On 3 October 1996, when the Registrar of Deeds affixed his Seal of Office
to the transfer of Vrede en Lust, a brand-new era was beckoning in the
history of this extraordinary farm. With this purchase came a vision of
resur­­rection. Three centuries after its original grant, two centuries after
the stately old Huguenot farm had celebrated the pinnacle of its prosperity
with the erection of a manor house, cellar and jonkershuis, one century
after its character had been changed to a fruit farm, Vrede en Lust would
once again rise to its former glory. To turn the property into one of the
Cape’s foremost wine estates, with a complete metamorphosis of the
vineyards, no cost or effort would be spared.

The vivacious sales team set
the convivial tone at one of the
Cape’s best loved wineries.

C E N T U R Y
parent farm & Wolve Kloof 63

The First Century
1688 â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1789

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Good Colonists,
like the ideal woman,
have no historyâ&#x20AC;?
Alys Fane Trotter (1898). Old Cape
Homesteads and their founders.
Cape Town: Cape Times.

Jacques de Savoye and Marie-Madeleine le Clercq

T

he story of Vrede en Lust starts in 1686. In
Flanders, 50-year-old Jacques de Savoye is persecuted by religious fanatics, he has lost his wife
who endured labour nine times to provide him
with heirs, and his textile trading business in
Ghent is ruined. De Savoye relocates to nearby
Middel­burg in Zealand and when the widower
meets and marries 26-year-old Marie-Madeleine
le Clercq, life is looking up. The newlyweds decide to make a clean break
when the opportunity arises to join the exodus to the Cape. Ever since
the Jesuit assassination attempt in retaliation against De Savoye’s hosting
of Reformed services in his home, he has felt as threatened as the French
Huguenots. The travelling party includes De Savoye’s mother-in-law,
Anthonette Carnoij, two children from his first marriage, Margo (17) and
Barbère (15), the new baby, Jacques (9 months), plus three servants, the
Nortier brothers, Jean, Jacob and Daniel. The latter, a carpenter, will be
accompanied by his wife, Maria Vijtou. To smooth his way in the new country, De Savoye sets about obtaining letters of commendation, which refer

to De Savoye as well as his servants as eminent people: “his [De Savoye’s]
life seemed a worthy example of purity and holiness, in an environment
where idolatry reigned supreme and such a lifestyle was almost impossible”. The 160-feet Oosterland, captained by Carel van Marseveen, departs
from Middel­burg on 29 January 1688. Among the European passengers are
the families of Jean Prieur du Plessis and Isaac Taillefert and the soldier
Jacques Therond. After 70 days, the immigrants arrive in Table Bay on
26 April, a fine day. Instead of having to divert to Saldanha, the Oosterland
anchors and the passengers are ferried ashore by rowing boat. Their first
impressions of the awesome mountain are counterbalanced by the small
size of the settlement. They have arrived on a new continent, to start a new
life. Some will adapt and survive, others not. Madeleine du Plessis will last
five years before returning to Europe. The Tailleferts will lose two children
within the year. In De Savoye family records, there is mention of a second
child, Jacquette. In later documents, however, no mention is made of her
– she may have been born at sea and died during the southbound journey.
Undeterred, the resolute De Savoyes, as can be predicted from their colourful past, now embark on a most wondrous adventure.

A farm in Africa
The scene shifts to Drakenstein, the furthest outpost of the Cape colony, still
sparsely populated with only 23 Dutch freeburghers having settled there the
year before. The valley is majestically beautiful, though quite rugged, with
dense forests, game, notably lion and tiger, and nomadic Khoi. The pioneers
live in simple clay and reed homes.
Nothing in De Savoye’s earlier career suggests that agricultural pursuits
such as ploughing, plant­ing, building and raising livestock would attract the
merchant, but he now becomes the owner of a magnificent piece of land
against the foothills of the Napoleonsberg (today known as Simons­berg).
He calls his farm Vrede en Lust (Peace and Delight), nurturing visions
of a rural paradise where he can spend his last days. Although the land

becomes his full and free property with immediate effect, he only receives
the title deed to the 120 morgen six years later, on 15 April 1694. It is then
signed and issued by Simon van der Stel, Council Extraordinary of India
and Governor of the United Netherlands Chartered East India Company
at the Cape of Good Hope, on condition that De Savoye regularly replace
trees felled on his farm with young oak trees, and supply the Honourable
Company with one tenth of his annual wheat crop.
As a novice farmer, De Savoye prospers, unlike most of the Huguenots,
who complain about stony and marshy soil and are so poor that they
qualify for handouts from Batavia. Even though he runs up far more debt
for initial supplies than any of the other newcomers, he makes a concerted

[VREDE & LUST]

11

effort to pay back his dues. In 1688 he owes 783 florins, the following year
only 144 florins.
De Savoye contributes greatly to the development of the Drakenstein
valley. On 4 January 1689 he is elected Heemraad (Magistrate) because
of his efficiency and knowledge of the Dutch and French languages, as
well as his comprehension of Portuguese spoken in the Indies. Van der
Stel writes to the Delft Chamber, saying that De Savoye and family are an
example for all the refugees and exiles.
On 28 November 1689 De Savoye, together with the Reverend Pierre
Simond and three other Huguenots, requests that the French farms be
spaced closer together so that a church council can be nominated. Two
thirds of the community are unable to follow a Dutch sermon, and living
one, two or even three hours on horseback from each other, the new farmers struggle to learn the Dutch language. Despite Van der Stelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s indignation, the request is forwarded to the Netherlands and the Dutch East India
Company complies. Two years later De Savoye becomes an elder in the first
French church council.
By 1692 De Savoye is running a successful mixed farming enterprise. Bar
one, he produces the most wheat and barley of all the burghers. He owns four
horses, 30 cattle, 10 000 vines and slaves from Madagascar and Bengal. Barent
Jansz, a carpenter, is engaged to build a proper house and when the two men
later become involved in a dispute regarding remuneration, the Magistrate
determines that De Savoye actually paid too much!
Meanwhile, the Nortier brothers are doing extremely well for themselves,
considering that most young men who came to the Cape were soldiers and
sailors and, if they were lucky, farmÂ­hands. Daniel, the carpenter, is making
money in his spare time doing woodwork. Soon he is ready to claim independence for him and his young family. He and Marie lost their first-born,

Jacques, who was born shortly after their arrival, but a mere two years after
arriving in the Drakenstein valley, Nortier becomes the brand-new owner
of the neighbouring farm, La Motte. His brother, Jean, acquires the deed of
grant to the adjacent farm, Fredericksburg.
The De Savoyes find it easy to adjust to the predominantly Dutch society
at the Cape. Jacques is soon known to all as Jacobus, and his wife, MarieMadeleine, becomes Maria Magdalena. One cannot help but admire Maria.
No stranger to hard work, she seems to be adapting well to the new circumstances, far removed from European culture in every conceivable way.
Maria is so capable that she holds power of attorney for Jacobus when in
the Cape. She is an active business partner, blessed with a lot of common
sense, like her mother, who was destitute but emancipated. In The Hague,
Anthonette Carnoij was often at the mercy of charity from the Walloon
Church, but in the Cape she confidently engages in dealings with her
church in Holland.
The well-known De Savoyes are held in high esteem. When little Aletta
is born a year after their arrival in the colony, Simon van der Stel acts
as witness to the christening in Cape Town on 17 July 1689. Not long
afterwards the eldest daughter, Margo (in her will, she writes her name as
Margarita Theresia de Savoy) who married Christoffel Snyman (also spelt
Cristoffle Cnayman, Senayment, Sceniemen, Seniman or Snijman), shortly
after the familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arrival in the Cape, gives birth to the infant, Catharina.
Christoffel is the son of a freed black slave called Antony from Bengal and
Catharina of Palicatte. Interracial marriages between whites and freed slaves
were not uncommon at the Cape and in the Stellenbosch and Drakenstein
districts. For a man like Christoffel it was not unusual to integrate with the
local community, both socially and economically, and nothing prevented
him from owning a farm.

“Indeed it is pathetic to find that of all these emigrants, some of whom
may have been members of the nobility in France, and all of whom
must have brought tales of personal adventure, hardly a legend remains.
Poverty, isolation, and ignorance are the great obliterators.”
Alys Fane Trotter (1898). Old Cape Homesteads and their founders. Cape Town: Cape Times.

Church controversy

De Savoye is a man of contrasts. He has a fiery temper and is quick to take
offence, but is willing to share prosperity, as proven by his support of the
Nortier brothers’ attempt at gaining their independence. Unfortunately, a
number of incidents cloud De Savoye’s reputation in a small community
that thrives on malicious gossip. Rumours that such a well-known and
respected citizen as himself has been declared bankrupt in the Netherlands
hurt him deeply, and although they are not unfounded, De Savoye feels that
he has to clear his name.
The Reverend Pierre Simond, after whom the hamlet Simondium was
named, places De Savoye under censure. A bitter argument ensues and De
Savoye is refused communion. Each of the two men has his supporters,
thereby creating a rift in the tightly-knit community of Drakenstein. De
Savoye approaches the Stellenbosch parish for membership and is accepted.
In the interim, he writes to the Netherlands, accusing Simond of various
wrongdoings, such as the intention of importing an oven which everyone
else will be forced to use for baking bread, and the fact that Simond’s wife
is engaged in trade. Moreover, he is upset that Simond demands one tenth
of the parish income and opposes a church council so that he can rule like
a pope or a bishop.
Simond denies everything and in support of their minister, 48 of the
French testify that they have nothing but praise for him and that the accusations are libellous. When Christoffel Snyman, together with his father-inlaw, De Savoye, as witness, presents his baby for the christening, Simond
declares, in front of the entire congregation, that he will christen the child
but cannot accept De Savoye.
De Savoye, his wife and daughter then launch a vociferous attack in
front of the pulpit. He is called a “tartufle” (hypocrite), a priest, a Jesuit,
a Judas, a “caffre” (infidel), a false shepherd, and they promise that their
influential friends will teach “ce beau petit Monsieur” (this pretty little
chap) a lesson! Simond retaliates in the form of 37 written pages, in which
he shows himself to be a master of rhetoric. The council nevertheless

investigates Simond’s affairs and in retrospect, this was a spurious attack
on officialdom. The combined church councils of the Cape, Stellen­bosch
and Draken­stein conclude that Simond should have accommodated De
Savoye in his church and that the brothers should reconcile, expressing
their dismay at the unforgiving nature of the French Huguenots who cannot settle their disputes.
In essence De Savoye remains a querulous character. He has a habit of
becoming embroiled in court cases, often over mere trifles. Governor Van
der Stel even receives a letter from the Rotterdam Chamber concerning De
Savoye’s crotchety temper. It reads: “[…] his nature can only be effectively
altered and improved by time, kind intercourse, and treatment. This we
readily entrust to your discretion.”
Ironically, the first Huguenot church, little more than a barn, was probably located on land belonging to De Savoye, since the address of the
church is “The French Huguenot Parish, Vrede-en-Lust, Simonsberg”. One
of the most impassioned advocates for the erection of a church, De Savoye
acquires an annex of 60 morgen to the south of his farm and north of the
Groot River on 22 December 1694. Of this, 48 morgen are allocated to the
Drakenstein parish. This eastern part of the annex is now known as Rusten-Vrede and forms part of Plaisir de Merle.
In 1695 De Savoye is elected one of the first officers when Stellenbosch
establishes its own burgher military force. He serves as a captain in the
Drakenstein Infantry until 1700. The annual military manoeuvres, which
include drilling and shooting at targets with flintlock muskets loaded with
loose powder, are a popular social event with the burghers.
That same year, a signal canon is erected on Simonsberg to tie in with
the colony’s signalling system. When rumours suggest that the French
may attack the Cape, the burgher unit, consisting of 100 inhabitants of
Stellenbosch and Draken­stein, perform active duty every 14 days, reinforcing the Cape garrison on a relay basis. In future they would be called
up regularly for duty at the Cape and in the interior.

[VREDE & LUST]

13

Family matters
De Savoye
acquires several
farms, but at
heart he remains
a businessman and
an entrepreneur.

The family’s living conditions probably consist of a tiny, flat-roofed structure. In all likelihood, the makeshift church is De Savoye’s first attempt at
building a house, since it is described as the “hut of one of our Frenchmen
who has moved”. In Kolbe’s Naaukeurige en Uitvoerige Beschryving van
de Kaap de Goede Hoop the traveller Valentyn is quoted describing it as a
small, low building with walls not higher than three or four feet, made of
clay with a flat thatch roof. The first houses were all
rudimentary, built with the most basic implements
and dependent on the natural materials that are
available – a mixture of clay and reeds, the bricks
moulded roughly, dried in the sun and cemented
with burnt limestone. Free burghers who did not
find clay often built hardbieshuise, believed to be
named after the hard reeds or ‘biesies’ used to build
them. These huts were similar to the grass huts of
the black people further north, although larger and
more commodious. Building homes took second place to establishing crops
and livestock herds that would enable the burghers to repay the company for
their land.
As early as 1658, fuel for the firing kilns had become so scarce at the
Cape that the search for wood had extended to the settlements of the free
burghers. The Company then prohibited the brick and lime makers from
collecting small bushes growing on the Cape flats, which the settlers used
for plaiting the walls of their huts.
Meanwhile, De Savoye and his wife are blessed with another child. Little
Aletta is five when her brother is born. Philippe Rodolphe (spelt Rodolf in
Dutch) is the first baby to be christened in the new Drakenstein church.
De Savoye acquires two more farms: in 1698 one at Simonsvlei, and soon
thereafter the farm Kromme Rivier in Wagenmaker’s Valley, to the north

of what is called Wellington today. In 1705, he purchases another farm in
this vicinity. He applies for permission to hunt, like many farmers who
thus provide for their families, and permission is granted to shoot eland
and hartebees. The land is leased to other farmers. De Savoye retains a
third interest in the farm, but never gains much profit from its operations.
Although he appears to flourish, the opposite is true. His finances at the
Cape have become just as precarious as they were
in Europe.
At heart De Savoye is a European gentleman,
an entrepreneur, a businessman, not a farmer. It
will take another century, and many more hardworking men born to the land before the farm is
sufficiently developed to claim its rightful place
among the thriving Cape wine estates.
Barely a year into the new century, De Savoye
gives up full-scale farming. By 1701 the Company,
to whom De Savoye is heavily indebted, insists on repayment of the loan.
He raises some cash by selling Vrede en Lust to his son-in-law, Christiaan
Ehlers, and accepts a mortgage bond for the balance of the sale price. This
bond is immediately transferred to his old enemy Pierre Simond, possibly
to cancel the debt for the house in Cabo, as the Table Valley settlement was
known, on the corner of the present-day Burg and Castle Streets, which De
Savoye buys when the 50-year-old Simond returns to Europe.
At Cabo, De Savoye engages in a commercial venture dealing in agricultural produce, but fails to meet with great success. He buys skins and
makes pants for sailors to earn extra money. Aged 70, having lost none of
his fighting spirit, De Savoye also attempts to expose the corrupt government of Governor Wilhem Adriaen van der Stel and becomes a leading
champion of the burgher cause. He is arrested in 1706, together with two of

Snyman, Viljoen, Meyer

Margo de Savoye becomes the founding mother of the Snymans in South
Africa. The couple have nine children before Christoffel passes away and
in 1707, the 36-year-old widow marries Henning Viljoen. The following year, her eldest, Catharina, marries Johannes Viljoen, the brother of
her stepfather. The descendants of both Henning Viljoen and Johannes
Viljoen are therefore also descendants of Jacobus de Savoye.

14

[VREDE & LUST]

Aletta, the first of the De Savoye children to be born on African soil,
marries Pierre (Pieter) Meyer, a Huguenot from Dauphine, one of the
original immigrants in 1688. One of Aletta’s sons, Philippe Rudolph
Meyer, becomes deputy-merchant and cellar master of the Cape government. The Meyers have seven children and countless Meyers are also
direct descendants of Jacques de Savoye.

his sons-in-law, namely Pierre Meyer of Dauphine (Aletta’s husband) and
Elias Kina (Barbère’s second husband). The dissidents are imprisoned in
the infamous ‘Dark Hole’ in the Castle, which Adam Tas, the well-known
diarist, describes as the most putrid prison in the world. When Pieter
Meyer becomes ill, he relents in a diplomatically worded statement, saying
that he regrets all his wrongdoings, but De Savoye shows no fear and says
he signed the petition because the Cape was going to the dogs.
On 12 February 1712 De Savoye applies for free passage back to the United
Provinces for him, his wife and mother-in-law. This is not granted, but in
view of their age and indigence, they pay half-fare as deck passengers on
Cornelis de Geus’s ship, the Samson. Why does De Savoye not ask for assistance from his three sons-in-law? Is he too proud, or are relations strained?
The house in Table Valley is only sold in April 1713, the year of the small-pox
epidemic, which means that those proceeds could not be used either.
When De Savoye and his wife attain membership of the Walloon Church
in Amster­dam in 1714, with a Cape attestation, there is no mention of
Anthonette Carnoij. She may have passed away in the course of the journey.
Yet another major and unforeseen event awaits the family. The next year, the

couple’s son, Philippe Rodolphe, who had been sent to Europe as a young man
for his education, returns to the Cape, taking passage on the Westerdijxhom as
a soldier and subsequently joins the shore establishment where he rises to the
rank of junior merchant. With a son, three daughters and numerous grandchildren in the colony, the parents are induced to leave the Netherlands once
again and make the long journey back to the Cape.
Philippe Rodolphe leads a respectable life as book­keeper and military
paymaster, a member of the Orphan Board and the Marriage Board, a Cape
deacon and cellar master of the East India Company in Cape Town. He is
appointed cellar master in 1721 and still occupies this position at the time
of his death in 1741, when the surname De Savoye dies out in South Africa.
Jacques, the baby who accompanied his parents on their first south-bound
voyage, died an early death some time before 1708.
Two years after his return to Africa, in October 1717, Jacques de Savoye
passes away – aged 81 and a pauper. His wife, Maria Magdalena, dies in
May 1721. Vrede en Lust’s first owner was a man of great vision, whose
great strength lay in his powerful religious life and voluntary efforts as a
missionary for the Protestant cause.

Title deed

The original deed of Vrede en Lust was issued in April 1694, although
the farm had been granted six years previously when the Huguenots
arrived at the Cape.
“We Simon van der Stel, Councillor Extraordinary of India, Governor
under the United Netherlands Chartered East Indies Company at the
Cape of Good Hope, the Island Mauritius and the territory thereabouts,
and We, the Councillors, herewith make known “That in the year 1688
was granted, ceded and given to the Free Agriculturist and Heemraad
Jacobus de Savoye in full and free ownership and is granted, ceded and
given to him by these, certain piece of land named Vrede en Lust, situated in Drakestein, extending W.S.W. upwards to the Simonsberg and
E.N.E. downwards to the properties of Roelof van Wijk and Hendrik
Eekhof, S.S.E. to that of Charl Mare and N.N.W. to that of Daniel
Noodje, measuring in length AB and CD six hundred, in breadth AD
and BC one hundred and twenty roods, altogether in extent measuring
120 morgen Rhineland measure as indicated by the above figure ABCD
by the Surveyor; with full power and authority to plow, sow, cultivate,
afforestate, to possess in full ownership, to administer and thereafter
should he so desire to sell the said land, to hire it out or to alienate it
in any manner whatsoever, in accordance with such laws as may be in

force in this Government; and he shall continue to be responsible for
and to construct beside his cornfields, a common wagon road for the
use and convenience of himself as well as for the other settlers; and also
a ford across the river the same width as the road; and further he shall
be responsible to replace from time to time the trees chopped down on
his farm with young oaks or other timber; and over and above all this,
he shall be liable to bring in yearly to the Governor of the Honourable
Company a tithe of his grain crop, under penalty that should he fail
to carry out promptly these conditions, or should he not plant and
cultivate the land in accordance with the laws proclaimed, the authorities shall be free to take the said land from him for the benefit of and
to remain under the control of the Government; and he shall be liable
to such taxes and perform such public duties as are laid down by the
Government here, or as may be imposed in the future for the benefit of
the Honourable Company and for the welfare of the Colony.
“Thus granted and given in the Castle of Good Hope
“15 April Anno 1694 S. v.d. Stel
“SEAL
“By Order of the Hon. Governor and Councillors J.G. De Grevenbroek.
Secretary.”

[VREDE & LUST]

17

â&#x20AC;&#x153;In the African sunlight, the white gable
gleams, and the shadows across it have
something of blue: the thatch changing
from honey-brown to black-purple velvet,
defies pen and camera alike. The teak
of entrance-door and shutters is glossy
with the elbow-grease of two centuries.
Behind is the high mountain, and above, a
blue sky, cloudless. There is spaciousness,
tranquillity, dignity. No need here for
haste: time stands still.â&#x20AC;?
C de Bosdari (1964). Cape Dutch Houses
and Farms. Cape Town: A A Balkema.

Christiaan Ehlers and Barbère de Savoye
1702

20

[VREDE & LUST]

PICTURES: IVAN VOLSCHENK

T

he second owner of Vrede en Lust fell in love with Jacques de
Savoye’s second daughter while working as a labourer on the
farm. Christiaan Ehlers (or Eijlersz, Eelers or Eybers), brother
of Hendrik, the Lion’s Head signaller, marries Barbère and
with her active participation in his business affairs, makes a lot of money as
a baker.
In 1701 when Jacobus de Savoye is so heavily indebted to the Company
that he cannot repay his loan, Christiaan buys Vrede en Lust from his
father-in-law, thus presenting him with enough cash to satisfy his creditors.
There is one minor complication though: Christiaan Ehlers has no interest whatsoever in farming. His business is flourishing and his wife enjoys
the comfort of the settlement in Table Valley. Neither of them is keen to
exchange their relatively relaxed and complacent existence for one of hardship in the countryside.
Ehlers immediately sells the property to the farmer Willem van Zyl,
merely acting as an intermediary in a curiously quick transaction. The
transaction is concluded in two stages starting in January 1702.
To the Cape authorities the mobility of the early Drakenstein population
is a problem. On 2 December 1697 the Political Council issues an ordinance
that inhabitants of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein will only be able to move
to the Cape providing they pay 50 rix dollars to the Stellen­bosch magistrate.
This measure is intended to prevent colonists who received free land from

selling the property shortly afterwards and resettling in Table Valley.
Ehlers does not have to pay the fine, for those who are likely to earn a
good living in town, are excluded from the stipulation. However, he pays
dearly for the farm, perhaps only for the benefit of his in-laws, for he was an
astute businessman. For his 5 010 guilders Indian valuation Ehlers acquires
120 morgen of cultivated land and “seekere hofstede, en op­staande behuisinge en verdere betimmeringe” (some buildings and timber structures).
This refers to the rough attempt of his father-in-law at erecting buildings.
When Christiaan dies in 1703, Barbère is left with four children under
the age of six. Supporting herself and her young family as a baker and
confectioner, she marries a former sailor and clerk in the Company’s pay
department in 1706. Elias Kina (also spelt Quina or Nina), originally from
Amsterdam, learns the baker’s trade from his wife. After four more pregnancies, Barbère is widowed once again in 1714.
A well-off and cultured businesswoman, Barbère owns a house in Table
Valley, a farm and assorted household effects. She raises her children to be
not only resourceful, but also to enjoy a taste for the finer things in life. They
attend church services in the Groote Kerk, consecrated in 1704. Her youngest daughter, Christina, marries Nikolaus von Dessin who bequeathes his
entire library with books, manuscripts, paintings, objets d’art, mathematical and astrological instruments to the Dutch Reformed Church in Cape
Town for the founding of the first public library in the country.

F

Willem van Zyl and Christina van Loveren
1702 – 1728

or Vrede en Lust, it is third time lucky! The property is finally
sold to a man who is in essence a farmer. His story starts in
Delft in 1668 in the home of a Catholic tinsmith, Willem van Zyl
Sr (also written Van Seijl) and his wife, Aeltgen (or Nelletgen)
Pieters van Adegeest. The Van Zyls, unlike many Hollanders of the time,
are sufficiently well-off to own a proper family home in Wijn Street. True
to tradition, the eldest son, Hubertus (or Albertus), learns his father’s trade
to take over the family business. While the second, Frans, joins the VOC as
a soldier, Willem Jr heads for Amsterdam, the most affluent merchant city
in Europe, where he becomes a gardener.
Willem finds lodgings in Verwer Street, nowadays situated in the oldest
part of the city, and soon meets a 21-year-old Protestant girl who is living
nearby with her aunt. Christina van Loveren was born in Amsterdam and
christened on 7 June 1673, in the same church where she was to be married,
which also happens to be the oldest church in the city. Her parents, Jan
Juriaensz and Annetje Jans were also married in the Oude Kerk ten years
before christening their daughter. Jan was buried from the Oude Kerk in
1676 and Annetje in 1680, leaving little Christina orphaned at a very tender
age. When the young couple’s banns are first read on 12 November 1694,
both Christina and Willem have lost their parents. Their marriage ceremony in the Oude Kerk takes place two weeks later, on 28 November 1694.
The Van Zyls soon move to Haarlem and on 21 October 1695 the eldest of their eight children, Willemina, is christened there. Two years later,
Albertus is christened in the town Velsen, just outside Haarlem. Willem
and Christina are ambitious and intent on securing a better life for their
offspring. Opportunity knocks when Willem’s brother Frans writes to them
from the Cape. According to a new scheme, free passage is offer­ed to the
Cape, provided the immigrants remain there for 15 years. On 22 September
1698, 32-year-old Willem, his 25-year-old wife and their two toddlers
board De Drie Croonen, skippered by Jan Speelman, and sail from Texel.
They travel in the same fleet of seven ships as the new Governor Wilhem
Adriaen van der Stel, who is on board the Stad Keulen.
During the hazardous journey 27 people die, mostly from dysentery
and fever. The living conditions are desperate. Men and boys sleep on the
open deck, whereas the women and daughters share a cabin. Willem and
Christina keep all their worldly possessions in a huge old Batavian kist
made of Philippine mahogany and finished with splendid Genoese copper

clamps. To prevent it from capsising in turbulent waters, it rests on two
front feet only. The very same kist, imbued with countless memories, can
nowadays be found on the wine estate Van Loveren in Robertson, whence it
was brought by the late Mrs Jean Retief, née Van Zyl, a direct descendant.
On 23 January 1699 the perilous voyage is finally over. The Van Zyls are
welcomed at the Cape with open arms. Willem’s experience as a nurseryman
stands him in good stead. He immediately starts work as deputy chief
gardener at Rusten­burg, the Company’s nursery in Rondebosch. Barely
three years later, the gardener becomes a free burgher with enough
resources to buy one of the Drakenstein’s most splendid farms, two slaves
and four horses. Within three days, Vrede en Lust had as many owners.
Two days after Christiaan Ehlers takes transfer, Van Zyl acquires one half
of the farm. The other half is transferred a year later, on 11 January 1703.
Meanwhile, Christina has her hands full raising the expanding family. On
4 July 1700 Johannes is born. On 30 October 1701, Hendrina is christened
in Cape Town (she probably died young). On 9 December 1703 Gideon,
conceived not long after the family moves to Vrede en Lust, is christened
in Drakenstein. On 12 December 1706 it is Pieter’s turn, followed by Hester
and Christina on 20 April 1709 and 14 September 1709 in Stellenbosch and
lastly, on 11 December 1718, Johanna in Draken­stein. All four brothers,
Albertus, Johannes, Gideon and Pieter, become farmers in the Drakenstein
valley, with Johannes and Gideon marrying sisters, Catharina and Maria
Elisabeth van Eeden.
Lady luck is smiling upon Willem van Zyl. He joins the burgher defence
force as a cavalryman in 1702. The next year he is promoted to the rank of
ensign and in 1705 he serves as second lieutenant under Captain Hercules
des Pres. On several occasions, dating from 1704, he is nominated for the
position of Heemraad. However, he is pipped to the post time and again
by other contenders, such as the Frenchman Abraham de Villiers. Van
Zyl nevertheless proves himself to be a valued member of the local society, capable of handling authority. In the 1706 Minutes of the Magistrate
and Heemraden, Willem van Zyl is appointed overseer of a group of ten
influential burghers, including the brothers Claude and Charles Marais, his
friend Pieter van der Bijl, and the three Nortier brothers, Daniel, Jacob and
Jean who are responsible for the maintenance of roads and drifts (fords)
stretching from Van Zyl’s farm to Joostenberg.
On 5 January 1706 Van Zyl signs the petition against Wilhem Adriaen

[VREDE & LUST]

21

van der Stel’s corruption together with 72 complainants, including his good
friend Adam Tas. Most of the Stellen­bosch and Drakenstein farmers are
involved in this attempt to impose limitations on the Governor’s tyrannical rule.
The Governor retorts by soliciting 243 signatures from residents testifying to his innocence. Threats convince several farmers, including Van
Zyl, to sign unwillingly. When Adam Tas hears of the retraction, he rides
out personally to Vrede en Lust to discuss the matter with Willem and
Christina. Both are in a quandary: they do not want trouble, yet they are
strongly opposed to the Governor. Eventually Van Zyl concedes and withdraws his signature.
By the middle of the year, there is still no positive response to the petition. Van Zyl and eight co-conspirators, all respectable citizens, are ordered
to present themselves at the Castle for court appearance. The men decide
to ignore the issue, after which they are summoned publicly by means
of a poster, but still they stay away. They protest that the nature of their
crime has never been mentioned and undertake to ignore any order by the
Governor until they receive a reply from Holland.
The court case then takes an interesting turn. The fiscal, Christoffel
Hasenswinkel, is sent to arrest Van Zyl who is tipped off about the imminent
visit and goes into hiding with his friends. When Hasenswinkel arrives at
Vrede en Lust and reigns in his horse, he only finds Mrs Van Zyl and the
children. Christina complains non-stop about the hardships of her existence,
about having to cope with a bunch of unruly kids, about a husband who disappears and leaves her in charge of everything. What a miserable life!

The Council of Justice finds the men guilty in absentia on 9 August 1706.
They are banned to Mauritius for five years’ manual labour without wages.
Their possessions are to be confiscated, they are fined and will never again
be considered for any political or military position.
For months the men live in hiding near Vier-en-Twintig-Rivieren, hiding
in the bush, mountains and caves. Van Zyl remains a fugitive until August
1707, when the Here XVII recall Van der Stel.
Van Zyl is a prosperous farmer who tries his hand at everything, from
viticulture to the cultivation of grains and raising livestock. This is clearly
indicated by the annual inventories stating each person’s possessions for poll
tax purposes. In 1702 Van Zyl bought a farm with 8 000 vines and a crop
of 10 leaguers of wine; by 1706 the figures for Vrede en Lust have increased
to 14 000 vines and 14 leaguers of wine. One leaguer equals 577 litres, and
roughly 1 000 vines are needed to produce one leaguer of wine. Seven years
later, Van Zyl owns 30 000 vines. The upswing in his fortune is in keeping with general trends, and in the course of the 18th century Drakenstein
instead of Stellen­bosch becomes the most important centre of viticulture
at the Cape. Total Drakenstein figures for 1718 indicate that Van Zyl is
extremely successful. He possesses 20 000 vines out of a total of 832 700,
and produces 12 leaguers of wine from a total of 448. As a wine farmer, his
success is surpassed only by about five other colonists.
By the end of the 17th century, Drakenstein also excels at the cultivation
of cereals, winnowing more wheat than either Stellenbosch or the Cape district. In 1702, the year Van Zyl acquires Vrede en Lust, he sows six muids
of wheat and winnows 20; four muids of rye and winnows 40; two muids

Livestock farming

Livestock farming presents its own dilemmas. In Drakenstein, as in
Stellenbosch, grazing deteriorates to the point where farmers hardly
have sufficient food for their animals. However, compared to wheat and
wine, meat fetches excellent prices. Furthermore, sheep and cattle farming do not require huge capital outlays and transportation and labour
costs are minimal. To solve the grazing problem, the government issues
permits in the well-known hunting territories of the Swart­land, the Berg
River and Vier-en-Twintig-Rivieren – areas that are nothing more than
communal grazing land for the established Cape farmers.
The loan farm system, which developed from the grazing licence system, became very popular. Although in theory the government could
confiscate the farm, this happened very seldom in practice. Initially the
livestock were left at these outposts to be supervised by grown sons,

22

[VREDE & LUST]

white servants and reliable slaves. In time the pioneers settled on these
farms and built houses.
Van Zyl needs extra grazing for his considerable herds. Having started
out with 100 sheep and 20 cattle, by 1705 he owns 400 sheep and 32 cattle. The next year, he has 500 sheep and 40 cattle. In 1708, not long after
the Van der Stel debacle, he starts renting a second property, De Honing
Fonteijn, situated next to the Berg River in the area where he had been
in hiding. He improves the land at his own expense, erects homes and
pens for the animals and becomes its rightful owner 14 years later, after
an appeal to the authorities. In 1714, the year he is allowed to return to
Holland in terms of his original contract, he purchases Leeuwenhoek in
the Lower Berg Valley. The next year, his livestock numbers 700 sheep,
140 cattle and 16 pigs.

PICTURES: IVAN VOLSCHENK

of barley and winnows 10. The decline in the first annual yields indicates
that Van Zyl is experimenting with crops, learning the hard way. As early
as 1705 he learns that barley gives disappointing results. In future he will
concentrate on wheat, which means that he has to start applying for sowing
permits, the first of which is issued on 20 April 1714, on condition that he
supplies the Company with one tenth of his crop.
Life is rolling along gently for Willem and Christina van Zyl. They own
three servants and five slaves and employ home teachers for their children.
Their lifestyle does not differ much from that of other farmers. Willem occasionally applies for a permit to go hunting game such as eland and hippo
in the vicinity of the Berg River. His weapons include a flintlock musket, a
pistol and a fencing sword.
Although the Van Zyls are prosperous, Chris­tina’s rectangular house is
extremely basic, nothing at all like the fancier letter of the alphabet homes
built two generations later. The windows of the hut are tiny, the interiors
dark, rendered even more sombre by clay floors and reed ceilings. The
primitive building material weathers badly and the timber for fuel and
bricks is cut within wagon-haul. On Sundays, after the religious sermons,
the Draken­stein burghers do their weekly shopping for supplies at the farm
shop on Vrede en Lust, a stone’s throw from the church, and far more convenient than travelling all the way to town.
On 19 December 1719 there is great jubilation in the Van Zyl household.
Willem finally fulfils his ambition to become Heemraad of Drakenstein,
despite the ruling that none of the conspirators against Wilhem Adriaen
van der Stel would ever be eligible for public office. At last, this deserving
man receives the recognition he so desired. On 29 January 1720 he attends
his first meeting as Heemraad; thereafter he serves two more terms.
In 1721 Governor Maurits Pasques de Chavon­nes receives a petition
from Van Zyl and a number of friends and neighbours complaining that
Khoi women visit their slaves, who were of Malay and other descent. Of
these visits, children are born. The farmers request that these offspring be
indentured to those who rear them, otherwise they have no compensation
for all their trouble and expense.

“The rectangular
house is extremely basic, nothing
at all like the fancier letter of the
alphabet homes
built two generations later.”

24

[VREDE & LUST]

When Willem van Zyl passes away at the age of 61 years in 1727, Vrede
en Lust is a highly desirable property with 16 slaves.
Exactly how prosperous “Vreed en Lust” was, can be deducted from the
content of the wine cellar. This building contains 18 leaguers of white wine
and 3 of brandy, 1 aum of brandy, 16 empty leaguers, a wine press, barrels, a bag of sulphur, salt for curing and preserving meat and hides, spars,
thatching, windows and doors to adorn new buildings, bits and pieces for
making and repairing vehicles and farm equipment, and moulds for making bricks. In addition, there is a specialised pressing house for the grape
harvest.
The 10 slaves are an important asset in the estate: they came from Timor,
Madagascar, Mala­bar, Bengal and Rio de Lago (Delagoa Bay, Mozambique).
Two men were born at the Cape, and the single woman, Susanna, was originally shipped to the Cape from Bengal in India.
In Willem’s will, the widow’s portion is 9 439 guilders, and special provision of 2 000 guilders is made for the nine-year-old Johanna, the only child
who has not yet left the parental home. Furthermore, Johanna and her
seven siblings receive equal portions of 393 guilders.
On 19 October 1728, Christina sells Vrede en Lust as a going concern for
10 200 guilders, Cape (also called Indian) valuation, to David de Villiers.
With Johanna and a female slave, Eva of Rio de la Goa (present day Maputo),
Christina moves to a house in Table Valley, on which 800 guilders are still
owing at the time of her death in 1730. Her twelve-year-old daughter is
bequeathed gold and silverware, household effects and other moveable property, as well as the slave, Eva. Christina furthermore stipulates that a feather
bed with all its paraphernalia, including silk and linen sheets, should go to
her daughter Hester van Zyl, married to the burgher Hendrik Muscher. The
remainder of the estate is to be divided amongst the eight children.
The inventory compiled after her death shows that she scaled down
enormously when she left Vrede en Lust. Christina van Zyl moved from the
farm with just those possessions required for life in the relatively civilised
Table Valley settlement. Henceforth the wagons, carts, ploughs and cellar
equipment will be used by a new generation of farmers.

Double monetary system
The term “Cape or Indian Valuation” refers to the peculiar monetary valuation system used by the Dutch East India
Company. A special light florin or “gulden” was used in the East Indies, of which the Cape was an appendage. This
coin had a lower value than a gulden in Holland. For this reason most of the VOC’s servants drew their pay in Holland.
The intention was to eliminate as far as possible the necessity for transporting bullion overseas, a dangerous process
due to storms and pirates.

PICTURES: IVAN VOLSCHENK

The farmyard

In 1728 the homestead has six rooms downstairs and three attic
rooms under the roof. The sitting room is full of glassware and porcelain displayed on shelves for visitors to admire. Friends and family
are received in a more comfortable sitting room, concealed from the
public eye. Here the family Bible sits on its own stand beside a huge
looking glass. Various tables, framed prints and ornamental chests
are arranged all over the room. Six chintz curtains with valances are
draped across the three windows.
Less lavish is the room to the left, with two curtained beds, clothes
shelves and a huge linen cupboard. There is also a jumble of storage
items, from hats and medicines to garden seed and iron wire. Most of
the chairs seem to have found their way to this room â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 17 altogether.
The small, rear room has four beds, two of which are curtained in
chintz, and the farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guns.
In the roof, accessed from the back of the house, are three storage
rooms with useful and useless items jumbled together: pots, pans,
ropes, glass window panes, grain and beans, canes and curtain rings.

Downstairs, the prep room houses the copper and brass utensils,
pots and pans, objects made of tin, wood and iron, and many valuable
pewter vessels, spoons, dishes and plates.
The kitchen itself, with its floor-level hearth and kettle, pots and
pans hanging from the chimney chain, is reserved exclusively for
cooking. Contemporary cooking was done in earthenware vessels, at
the Cape as in Europe. Coarse red earthenware containers were made
locally, and proved to be the only ceramic tableware made in the Cape
until the 20th century. One seldom sees them in museums nowadays,
although they are commonly found in archeological collections of
excavated wares. They are easily broken, mundane items like dishes,
pans, pots, coal holders and colanders, often with little feet on the
base to raise the vessel above very hot coals.
The outbuildings consist of a wine cellar next to the house, baking
house, smoke house for curing meat and preserving hides, and a shed
with heavy ox-drawn farming equipment such as harrows and ploughs
behind the pressing house.

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25

David de Villiers and Elizabeth Hugo
1728 – 1783
The De Villiers
brothers were
among the few
Huguenots who
actually had
practical experience
of viticulture.

26

[VREDE & LUST]

W

ith its fourth owner, Vrede en Lust becomes the property of a man
who has viticulture coursing his veins. On 19 October 1728, four
decades after the initial grant, the farm is purchased by David de Villiers, the
sixth child of Jacob (Jacques) de Villiers’ 20 offspring.
In the first half of the 18th century, the population at the Cape increased
considerably, even though the arrival of the Huguenots, perhaps 200 altogether, marked the end of planned European immigration. Men married young
and the birth rate was two and a half times that of the death rate. Company
employees frequently took free papers after serving their time and reinforced
the burgher numbers. By 1750 there were more than 5 000 colonists and
6 000 slaves, as well as 1 500 Europeans in the service of the Company.
The Huguenot Jacques de Villiers, with his elder brothers, Abraham and
Pierre, arrived at the Cape on the Zion on 6 May 1689. Their new farm was
named La Rochelle, like their home town in France. The De Villiers brothers
were among the few Huguenots who actually had practical experience of viticulture. Jointly the brothers owned one horse, which they took turns to ride
when they went to church in Stellenbosch – a three-hour ride! Their wealth
lay in their children and their descendants ensured that De Villiers is in all

likelihood the most numerous, if not the most famous, Huguenot family to
survive at the Cape. Together with the Gardiol and Taillefert families, they
formed one large clan. Pierre, who fathered 25 children and lived to see his
100th grandchild, retained La Rochelle.
Jacob de Villiers and Marguerite Gardiol live on the farm La Brie in
Franschhoek when their sixth child, David, is born, but from 1717 onwards,
the family moves to Boschendal, which Jacob takes over from his brother
Abraham. David, a fine fellow, serves in the church as a deacon, but like
countless young men at the time, he knows that he will not be allowed to
remain on the family farm. Boschendal will be farmed by the youngest son,
who, according to the custom of the day, will look after his elderly parents.
When David’s elder sister, Maria Elisabeth (christened Marie-Isabeau),
marries Steven Marais in 1718, the enterprising and independent youngster
becomes a regular visitor to Le Plessis Marly, especially since he is working
on La Motte – the two farms are separated only by Vrede en Lust. David
marries his cousin Madeleine, daughter of his uncle Pierre de Villiers, in
1726 and two years later, he jumps at the opportunity to buy Vrede en Lust
for 10 200 guilders, Indian valuation, when the widow Van Zyl moves to

David de Villiers increases
the vine plantings from
20 000 to 80 000.

Table Valley. David knows the farm well and even though the house is not
grand, it provides ample accommodation. He is excited about the fact that it
has a separate baking house. With his brother-in-law next door, the young
men set about building up their adjoining farms with much enthusiasm.
In an isolated community where human life is taken away as easily as it is
conceived, friends and neighbours are important, especially when personal
tragedy inflicts pain. In 1731, just when things are looking up, the untimely
death of Maria strikes hard. David loses a dear sister and Steven a wife and
mother of his five small children.
When David’s property is assessed for tax purposes in 1731, it records four
slaves, three males and one female, three horses and 40 cattle. The vines still
number 20 000, as in Willem van Zyl’s tenure in 1723. The grain crop, which
measures 25 muids, will soon increase.
David, who enjoys social standing as an elder and Heemraad, is one of the
memorialists, together with neighbour Charles Marais, who draw up a petition in 1744 to express their dissatisfaction with the lowering of wheat prices.
The failure of the crops in 1738, 1739 and 1740 cripples the farmers. Interest
arrears are to be paid, as well as debts incurred for blacksmiths, wagon makers
and other household purposes. Mortality among slaves hampers the farmers.
They are also concerned about mortality among the draft oxen – the result of
hard work, bad food and disease. Moreover, the petition also notes pests and
plagues, gales, floods and droughts.

Madeleine gives birth to six children, but does not live to celebrate her
fiftieth birthday. Few widowers remain single in the countryside where there
are tasks aplenty for a farmer’s wife to perform, apart from raising children. Almost immediately, in 1749 or 1750, David marries the 28-year-old
Elisabeth Hugo. Her father, the Huguenot Daniel Hugo, soon entrusts his
farm, Sion, to his capable and educated new son-in-law, who has an unusual
thirst for knowledge. His personal library comprises 52 French and 48 other
books. When writing, he employs an early version of Afrikaans, showing that
the language is already being formed from a mixture of Dutch, French and
Malay words. A letter, written to the magistrate’s secretary in 1748, shows his
command of language. It is therefore not strange that he employs a cousin,
Abraham J de Villiers, to teach his children.
In 1752 David’s tax return looks considerably different from the one in
1731. He now owns a third property, La Motte, which is farmed by his eldest son, Pieter. From La Motte he transfers four morgen 500 square rods to
Vrede en Lust.
David and Elisabeth are now living on Vrede en Lust with four daughters
and a servant who educates the children while overseeing certain functions
on the farm. In their 20 years together, Elisabeth gives birth to 10 children.
They are well-off; David owns 17 slaves, 10 males, 4 females and 3 children.
There are 12 horses, 150 cattle and now also 375 sheep. The grain crops
measure 60 muids from 11 sown.

[VREDE & LUST]

27

The De Villiers family
live and entertain on
a grand scale in the
mid-18th century.

28

[VREDE & LUST]

As a wine farm, Vrede en Lust flourishes. The vines have increased fourfold
to 80 000 and the cellar contains 40 leaguers of wine. In 1758 the French in
Mauritius prepare for war with England and French ships are regularly provisioning at the Cape. The Cape farmers are entitled to sell any surplus at the
highest price, once the Company’s requirements of farm produce have been
satisfied. With as many as 17 French ships at one time in Table Bay, prices
double and even treble. The French are followed by the English and until
peace is declared in 1763, both sides use the Cape.
The Drakenstein landscape, however, is still savage and inhospitable. The
Peninsula is separated from the interior by the waste of shifting sand, now
known as the Cape Flats, which stretches across the isthmus. The area from
Rondebosch to Faure is still untilled by 1800. David de Villiers lives with his
gun close at hand for beasts of prey are common. Even though the high price
of ivory has ensured the extermination of the elephant, leopard, jackal and
brown hyena (‘strandwolf’) are still very much in evidence in the gorges and

against the mountain slopes which is wasteland belonging to the government. To the farmers’ chagrin, they often attack the grazing livestock. In 1819
a stretch of mountainous land called Wolve Kloof (Wolf Gorge) becomes
a quitrent farm, but for the time being its untamed aspects cause David de
Villiers more than one headache. His high stone-walled kraals do not keep
the predators out, and his herdboys in the adjacent enclosure are too lax to
catch the culprits. To curb his losses and ensnare the predators, De Villiers
builds a number of traps according to the prevailing custom. One of these
stone constructions in Wolve Kloof is extant, with one rubble wall containing
an opening through which the trapped animal can be shot.
When David dies in 1770, Elisabeth still has two budding farmers under
her roof. They are David’s 12th and 15th children respectively: Jan, 12 years
old (9 June 1758 – 1787) and his brother, Izaak Tobias (1 April 1764 –
1792), who is only six. Ten years later, when Jan is 22, he marries his cousin,
26-year-old Maria Elisabeth de Villiers. Maria, the daughter of Abraham de

Villiers and Johanna Lombard, provides an heir, David Pieter, in 1781 and
the following year the couple is blessed with a daughter, Johanna Susanna.
When Jan’s wife comes to live under her mother-in-law’s roof, there are
seven male slaves, many of them born at the Cape, assisted by four female
slaves. To work the farm, there are 13 horses and 60 oxen, excluding eight
breeding cattle. The wine cellar is well-stocked with leaguers of wine,
wooden funnels, eight cellar buckets, a press and a brandy still, as well as
beer pipes. The wagon house contains a horse wagon with accompanying
tent, three ox wagons, two old wagons, one cart, twelve harnesses and six
bridles. There are two ploughs and a harrow with iron teeth.
One can imagine the activities in the homestead during the mid-18th
century. Furniture includes a table, two desks, five mirrors, twelve paintings, three four-poster beds, seven beds with blankets and twelve pillows,
thirteen cushions and 45 chairs! So much for living and entertaining on
a grand scale … Crockery consists of four dozen porcelain vessels and 10

dozen porcelain plates! The cabinet holds 24 drinking glasses, three tea sets
and three glass salt cellars. In addition to the iron pots and an iron tripod,
the tin cutlery comprises four dozen tin spoons, five dozen forks and two
dozen knives.
The water mill is fully operational with all its accessories. There is a large
flour kist and two scales with a 120 lb. weight. There are earthenware jars
and glass bottles, bags and baskets, including one for chicken. For making
butter, there is a churn and three barrels. With bread being baked on a daily
basis for the large family, Jan applies for permission to open a bakery.
When Elisabeth Hugo de Villiers draws up her final will in 1782, she is 60
years old. She passes away three months later, with Jan and Izaak inheriting 60 and 64 morgen of Vrede en Lust respectively. Jan and Maria dictate
their will before Antonie Faure at Vrede en Lust that very same year while
Elisabeth is still alive – most likely a matter of convenience, having the
notary at hand.

[VREDE & LUST]

29

Jan and Maria de Villiers
1783 – 1789

B

etween 1776 and 1786 wine production at the Cape doubled. Local
demand could not cope with the increased supply and export attempts
were thwarted by the war that was being waged by France against Britain
and the Netherlands. Fortunately the French garrison, which was stationed
at the Cape from 1781 to 1783, brought such prosperity that prices were
skyrocketing and Cape Town even had its first taste of price control. A
French purchasing agent was in permanent residence; so was his Danish
rival. Money was flowing into the colony, together with French fashions,
frivolity and extravagance. People even spoke of ‘Little Paris’. The colonists
beautified their houses and imported furniture on credit. Well-to-do farmers, their slave quarters full, employed Africans as labourers and Asiatics as
masons, carpenters, coopers, cooks, tailors and coachmen. When the sun
was shining, life was carefree; but when night-time fell, it was wise to sleep
with a gun beside the bed and lock the bedroom door, for one never knew
when the slaves were planning a revolt.
Jan de Villiers is almost 25 years old and the father of two infants
when he becomes the official owner of Vrede en Lust on 21 March
1783. His section consists of 60 morgen plus the four morgen 500
square rods annexed by his father from La Motte. Vrede en Lust
is valued at 14 000 guil­ders, Indian valuation. Jan pays the estate
4 668 guilders with a promissory note or bond for the remaining sum to be
redeemed in instalments.

The 60 morgen inherited by his brother, Izaak, is called Rust-en-Vrede.
Izaak, the second youngest of the De Villiers children, is a youngster of 19
when he inherits his 60 morgen, as well as half of Sion. Due to Izaak’s ailing
health, Rust-en-Vrede is sold in 1790 and Elisabeth Francina van Niekerk
is widowed two years later. Henceforth the story of Vrede en Lust unfolds
separately from that of Rust-en-Vrede, which follows its own turbulent
course of subdivision and is eventually consolidated with Le Plessis Marly,
now known as Plaisir de Merle, in the 20th century, by a direct De Villiers
descendant, Johan Hendrik (Lord John Henry).
The same fate befalls Izaak and his older brother, namely that their offspring do not continue farming on their birthright. Jan’s third child, Jan
Tobias, is barely two years old when his father is taken from them in 1787,
four years after inheriting Vrede en Lust. His will does not amount to more
than 2 000 guilders when it is presented at the Orphan Chamber on 20 April
1787. The first-born, David Pieter, is much too small to take over from his
late father, but he later makes a huge success of farming at Sewe Riviere in
Banhoek and at Zorgvliet. Together with his wife, Dorothea Susanna Retief,
David Pieter de Villiers will build up an estate worth 100 000 guilders.
The De Villiers genealogy is a quagmire of intermarriage between cousins, all of whom chose traditional family names for their numerous children. David de Villiers had several namesakes who managed their affairs
well and became prominent burghers.

[VREDE & LUST]

31

The Second Century
1783 â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1899

F

Maria and Jacob Marais
1789 – 1821

or the first time in Vrede en Lust’s history, the farm
belongs to a woman. How does the 35-year-old widow
and mother of three handle her predicament? She
chooses the only sensible option available to women
in her day and age – two years after her husband’s
death, Maria Elisabeth de Villiers remarries. Her new
husband will have to shoulder the responsibility for
improving and developing the farm.
Eleven years her junior, Jacobus Stephanus Marais, the eighth of Petrus
Marais and Anna Margaretha Krige’s twelve children, has all the makings of a fine farmer. He is the great-grandson of the Huguenot Charles
Marais, who came to the Cape as a youngster of 19 with his parents in
1688 and settled on Le Plessis Marly. While his brother, Claude, farmed
next to Jacques de Savoye, Charles became the owner of De Fortuin in the
Wagen­maker’s Vallei, where he prospered as a farmer. He and his wife,
Anne des Ruelles, did their fair share to establish the Marais name in this
country, appearing twelve times at the christening font between 1693 and

34

[VREDE & LUST]

1711. The groom descends from their fourth child, Daniel (husband of
Aletta Rossouw), who moved to Swellendam.
The wedding is celebrated in Paarl on 31 May 1789 and the couple have
four children in quick succession. Pieter, the eldest, is born the next year, followed by two daughters, Anna Margaretha and Maria Elisabeth, and finally
Abraham Johannes in 1797, when his mother is 43 years old.
Both wine and cattle farming are in an expansionary phase. When the war
ends, the French garrison is replaced by a Dutch one who stays until 1790, at
which time the Dutch East India Company can no longer afford it. Although
the Cape is in an economic upswing, the rule of the Here XVII is almost over
and the Chartered Company will soon be bankrupt. Its annual income at
the Cape is hardly a quarter of its annual expenditure, and selling off public
buildings does not fill the coffers. When the Cape is returned by the British
in 1803, it is handed to the Dutch government instead and rechristened the
Batavian Republic.
In the course of little more than a decade, the Cape assumes a cosmopolitan
character. Since 1780 the Netherlands is declining as a maritime power and

Dutch ships at the Cape are outnumbered three to one. Foreign ships arrive
from France, England, Denmark, America, Portugal, Austria, Spain, Sweden
and Prussia. For the Boland wine farmers these are halcyon days, especially
when Britain occupies the Cape for the second time in 1806. They now have
a huge new market to which they can export. Capital expenditure is the order
of the day, with many farmers enlarging their existing cellars or building new
ones. Soon the pinnacle of Cape Dutch architecture will be reached in the
stately manor houses that have come to epitomise this unique building style.
At the time when many of these elegant homesteads are erected, the Knysna
forests with their majestic trees have only just been discovered by Governor
Van Plettenberg in 1788. The timber, initially required for wagons and gun
carriages, is transported by ship from Plettenberg Bay to Table Bay. Soon
farmers use the same yellowwood for beams and door panels, ceiling and
floor boards, and stinkwood and ironwood for cabinets.
The central gable of the cellar features the date 1799 below the cap. One
may well wonder whether it was inaugurated with a turn-of-the-century bash
on 31 December. Jacob has now been in charge for a decade, and there is no

need to be conservative, since the price of wine more than doubles between
1795 and 1797. The Marais couple are in the prime of their lives: Maria is
46, Jacob 35. Jacobâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stepsons, David and Jan, are strapping lads of 19 and 15
respectively, while their sister, Johanna, is a nubile 18 years old. The house
is filled with boisterous laughter and banter as the four Marais offspring are
growing up. If the turn of the century was celebrated with a party, one pictures Pieter (10), Anna (8), Maria (6) and Abraham (3) taking turns to peep
at the grown-ups dancing and making merry, and eating their fill from tables
laden with roast meat, venison pie, farm bread, garden vegetables and an
array of sweets, including milk tart and koeksisters.
But what does Jacobâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wine cellar look like? It is a long, rectangular thatched
structure, featuring a large double door with fine wrought iron hinges at one
end and a second, smaller door below the central dormer gable. The front
gable is in the popular holbol style with Baroque features, not unlike the 1815
gable of one of the outbuildings on neighbouring Rust-en-Vrede. The end
gables are equally decorative, the cap being split into two scrolls with a shell
motif inserted between them. Both the shell and the sheaf of wheat on the

The entrance hall is
divided from the main
reception room by a
many-leaved screen;
glass was imported
from Europe in sheets.

[VREDE & LUST]

35

jonkershuis end gable seem to be randomly chosen for they do not appear
as heraldic emblems in the shields of Van Zyl (swan), De Villiers (bent arm
holding curved sword) or Marais (rose).
A small door is cut into one of the larger doors to allow easy access to the
cellar, while maintaining a low temperature on the inside. To reduce the
heavy concentration of carbon dioxide which builds up during fermentation,
a draught is essential, and at Vrede en Lust this is created by two small rectangular window openings on either side of the central doorway. The end doorway comprises a second smaller doorway, reached by a flight of three steps, to
supply wine to local customers without having to open the large doors.
In 1806 Vrede en Lust becomes involved in the first of various court
cases about water rights. The issue, concerning the use of a water duct,
goes to the Appeal Court two years later. The parties are Pieter Marais,
Jacob’s son (even though he only becomes the official owner in 1821),
versus Elizabeth du Toit, widow of the late Frans de Wet who bought neighbouring Rust-en-Vrede from Isaac de Villiers in 1790. The cost of building

a reservoir is to be shared by both parties and the water flow regulated.
In the first decades of the 19th century, the cost of living increases sharply
due to the drastic decrease in the value of the rix dollar. While the wine
farmers are being paid good prices for their wine, however, they hardly have
reason to complain. After the Napoleonic blockade of European harbours
in 1813, Governor Cradock announces that Britain is granting Cape wine
preferential tariffs and export prices shoot up.
Like most wine farmers, Jacob has large herds of livestock and requires
more land for grazing. In 1819, in terms of the new system of tenure, perpetual quitrent, he becomes joint owner of 1 070 morgen of wasteland higher
up against the mountain, namely Wolve Kloof. For almost a century, one
fifth or one tenth shares of Wolve Kloof are sold off by the owners, until the
land is finally surveyed in 1902 when various sections are consolidated with
neighbouring farms. Jacob is also granted 73 morgen adjacent to Vrede en
Lust. Sadly the expansions are only finalised in December, a few months after
Maria’s death on 21 March 1819.

The homestead and outbuildings

Later gables
are usually more
embellished than
the earlier, truer
versions.

36

[VREDE & LUST]

The homestead at Vrede en Lust was probably built during the 17801790 spell of prosperity, or in the period between 1796 and 1820. The
latter seems more likely, due to the elaborate decoration of the central
gable. Later gables are usually more embellished than the earlier, truer
versions. An earlier house may have stood on the same spot, but could
have burnt down. If the house was built during the first period, the same
masons may have been used as on Plaisir de Merle, where the manor
house dates from 1764, with unaffected holbol (concavo-convex) gables
– the simplicity being indicative of the early style and similar to those on
the two buil­dings flanking the Vrede en Lust manor house.
Although Cape farmyards usually formed a courtyard, the three main
buildings on Vrede en Lust stand in a straight line. The cellar is to the
right of the house, the jonkershuis to the left and the slave bell in front.
The walls are built of sun-burnt bricks, held together with clay mortar,
and faced with ant-heap earth. To prevent the walls from disintegrating
in the rain, they are lime-washed annually in November after the winter rains. The uneven surface of the walls prevents the bright sunlight
from forming concentrated light reflections, and the dazzling whiteness
accommodates shadow play even in a strong glare.
The stoep runs around the house. Its purpose is to keep mud from
soiling the white-wash of the outside walls and to level out the ground

in front of the house. From time to time a marbling effect is painted on
the base of the front wall to conceal mud splashes. On both sides of the
stoep are benches formed in plaster, with oak trees for shade. Despite
Van der Stel’s insistence on oak afforestation in most of the original land
grants, oak grows much too fast in the Cape to be used as timber and
soon became the preferred shade tree, hence the lovely lanes graced to
this day by centuries-old oaks.
The inside walls are tinted or stencilled. The floor of the entrance hall
and reception rooms is covered with Batavian tiles, dark red in colour,
laid directly on the bare clay underneath. In some rooms the clay is
preserved with cow dung or weekly applications of ox blood, in others
timber is used in line with late 18th century custom. The windows are
sym­metrical, with two half-width windows set close to the front door.
Frames are flush with the outside wall. Casement windows open to the
inside and teak wooden shutters to the outside. Sash windows, the top
half being fixed and the bottom half made to slide, are coming into
fashion. Glass is imported from Europe in sheets and cut into small
pieces of about 8 X 6 inches, set in wooden glazing bars. The entrance
hall is divided from the main reception room by a many-leaved teak or
yellowwood screen. Facing the screen is a wall cupboard for porcelain
or glass.

IVAN VOLSCHENK

IVAN VOLSCHENK

V

Pieter and Anna Marais
1821 – 1846

rede en Lust now appears to pass out of the hands of the De
Villiers family, but in fact the new owner, Pieter Marais, is
Maria’s eldest son by her second husband, Jacob. Many Cape
properties passed down through the female line. When 31year-old Pieter Marais and his 30-year-old wife, Anna, become the new
owners on 13 April 1821, they cannot foresee that within two years the
farm will be mortgaged to the hilt. Pieter is married to his first cousin,
Anna Aletta, the daughter of Jacob’s younger sister Anna Elisabeth, and
David Muller. The executor of Jacob’s estate is Pieter’s brother-in-law,
Johan Carel Voigt, a well-known wine farmer from the Klein Drakenstein
farm Parys, who is married to Pieter’s sister, Anna Marga­retha. To pay the
purchase price of 230 000 guilders, Indian Valuation, Pieter takes out a
mortgage for 120 000 guilders on the day of the transfer. The following year
wine farms suffer terribly as a result of heavy rains and gale force winds
lasting four days. Two further mortgages on Vrede en Lust are registered
on 7 February 1823 and 13 June 1823.
It is a tough baptism for Pieter, but his prospects remain good. Wine is
the single biggest source of income for the Cape colony and also the most
important export product, and it will remain that way for the next three
decades. Drakenstein is the largest production area with approximately
20 million vines. In February 1826 Pieter becomes advisor to Governor
Lord Charles Somerset, who is keen to generate exports so that the Cape colony will not be a constant drain on British Colonial Office coffers. As Groot
Drakenstein representative on the Cape Wine Trade Committee, Pieter has to
investigate the improvement of the quality and flavour of the colonial wines.
The committee draws up guidelines for making good wine and brandy, and
opens an office in Cape Town to taste wine and brandy samples.
The Cape of Good Hope Agricultural Society is founded in 1833 and
tries in vain to inspire the wine farmers through competitions which award
trophies and cash prizes for high quality. The domestic demand is big,

however, and millions of rix dollars are invested in new vineyards, more
than half of which are planted in Drakenstein. Overspending and not
paying attention to the quality of their wines causes the downfall of many
farmers, who get rid of their surplus stocks by distilling more brandy.
However, Cape brandy has a disgraceful reputation on the British market
and remains a local product until the end of the century. Its success is due
mainly to increased consumption in the budding mining towns.
When preferential tariffs are abolished in 1825, the Cape farmers are far
too dependent on wine to cope financially. Many of them have incurred
huge debts to finance the capital expenditure on their farms; what is more,
they are heavily taxed by the government, and transport costs during the
depression era amount to one third of the price paid for a leaguer of wine.
An ox wagon, the only means of transport, can only transport two leaguers
of wine at a time. From Drakenstein, a single trip over bad roads may take
four days. By the 1830s and 1840s wine farmers in general are referred to
as a poor socioeconomic group.
With the abolition of slavery in 1834, the owners suffer further serious
losses, compounded by labour shortages. On 27 January 1840 Pieter’s brother-in-law, the farmer J C Voigt, writes to De Zuid-Afrikaan that most of the
wine farmers will not be able to harvest the forthcoming crop due to a lack of
hands which has already caused a part of the deciduous fruit to be lost.
When Pieter Marais dies on 27 November 1845, the farm is bequeathed
to 33-year-old Jacobus Stephanus, the eldest of Pieter’s three sons. Jacobus
is also executor of his father’s will, together with Willem Frederick Hertzog,
a relative of Pieter’s second wife and surviving spouse, Maria Christina
Hertzog. One can only speculate as to why Jacobus, who has three sons of
his own, as well as two brothers who may have been suitable candidates
as farmers, does not make every possible effort to retain the family farm.
Having been in the hands of one family for almost 120 years, Vrede en Lust
is now sold to outsiders.

[VREDE & LUST]

37

PICTURES: IVAN VOLSCHENK

“Many doubtless are the stories which could be told us of wild old life, and the struggles of these
burghers, who with a wonderful resolution built and beautified their houses in the teeth of the taxation
and oppression of the Company. Men of whom awesome stories of ill-treated slaves still are whispered, but
who doubtless had romances in their lives as true as anything which modern sentiment could suggest.”
Alys Fane Trotter (1898). Old Cape Homesteads and their founders.
Cape Town: Cape Times.

O

Daniel Theunissen
1846 – 1848

n 21 February 1846 Daniel Johannes Theunissen (45) attends
the public auction of Vrede en Lust and one fifth of the
adjoining Wolve Kloof. His bid of £2 675 is successful, and
in fulfilment of the requirements, he names two sureties,
namely Andries Brink and George Louis Steytler. The conditions of sale
allow him to build a dam in the river on the farm Fredricksburg and a
ditch across the latter to La Motte. The Wolve Kloof section includes an
access road used by neighbours to get to the church in Simondium, passing
through a gate between a smithy and a mill.
The new owner, who officially takes transfer on 16 April, is a grandson
of the founding father of the Theunissen family in South Africa. Marthinus
Aegidus Theunissen, who was born in the Nether­lands in 1744, was only
20 years old when he immigrated from Maastricht. At the Cape, he married
Anna Maria Lourens and fathered 12 children. He succeeded his fatherin-law, J M Lourens, as head of the VOC’s buiteposte (outlying regions)
in Sonderend and the Breede River. Marthinus and Anna’s eldest son,
Marthinus Wilhelmus, was born at the main station, Soetmelksvlei, and
christened on 9 April 1773.
For the Theunissens 20 seems to have been a fortuitous age, because
Marthinus Junior marries Sara Catharina Malan shortly after his twentieth

birthday. (His younger brother, Wilhelmus, married her sister, Emerentia,
and became a commandant in the early Border wars.) Marthinus and
Sara are a busy young couple. Not only do they acquire various properties, including Vergelegen in Somerset West, but Sara gives birth to fifteen
children. By the time Daniel Johannes, the sixth son in a row, is christened in 1801, Sara must have been pregnant almost all her married life.
Unfortunately the genealogical records of the Theunissen family end with
Daniel’s generation. No information is available on his wife or children.
During the 1840s and 1850s the economic position of the wine farmers is
showing signs of improvement, mainly due to a slight increase in the wine
price. While they are definitely not wealthy, they make a living. The labour
issue is to a certain extent resolved when freed slaves start returning to their
former employers. Drakenstein wine farmers also acquire the services of
destitute English children sent to the Cape by the Children’s Friend Society
in London in 1837. Aged 14 on average, a few hundred of these juvenile
emigrants are indentured to farmers in the Western Cape for six years.
Some Drakenstein farmers take up to six children.
Sadly Daniel does not benefit from the short-lived period of prosperity in
the late 1850s. He loses nearly £700 on the purchase price of the farm when
he is declared bankrupt two years after buying Vrede en Lust.

[VREDE & LUST]

39

Jacob Louw
1848 – 1854

T

JEAN-PIERRE UYS

he next owner of Vrede en Lust is Jacob Eliza de Villiers Louw, a
native of Stellen­bosch with strong family roots in Draken­stein. In
1848, when he pays £1 962 for Vrede en Lust, Jacob, the 30-yearold son of Hendrik Louw and Cornelia Sophia Smuts, has luck on his side.
Although the farm is mortgaged straight away for the sum of £1 250, he buys
at exactly the right time when the export market is picking up, heralding a
short period of prosperity for the wine farmers. The outbreak of oidium in
European vineyards curbs production on the Continent so drastically that
between 1853 and 1859 exports to Britain increase tenfold, with Cape wine
fetching excellent prices.
The sandy, heavy-going road across the Cape Flats is replaced by a good,
hard-surfaced road. By the end of 1845 the new road stretches as far as
Klapmuts, cutting the Drakenstein farmers’ transport costs by half. However,
for years to come the road along which the Franschhoek wine farmers transport their wine to the junction with the Paarl-Cape Town road, remains terrible. Their heavily laden wagons have to cross the Groot Berg River, which is
often in flood in winter, causing big losses.
By purchasing Vrede en Lust, Jacob Louw returns to his roots. The Louw
family’s history in the Drakenstein valley dates to the burgher Hendrik
Louw, who married Hester (or Ester) Loret in 1767. In 1790, after the death
of Hendrik, Hester married Johannes Jacobus Haupt, a widower, of the farm
Lanquedoc. The very next year the Louws celebrated another family wedding,
when the third of Hendrik and Hester’s 13 children, the 21-year-old Johannes
Guilliam, married his cousin, Elisabeth Maria Louw. A year later their eldest
child was born and true to custom, they named the boy Hendrik Johannes
after his grandfather and father. Hendrik’s younger brother, Jacobus, married
the widow Johanna Engelbrecht and thus became the owner of Lanquedoc, the
farm where his grandmother went to live after his grandfather’s death. In his
turn, Hendrik’s son, also Jacob, becomes the tenth owner of Vrede en Lust.
On 15 May 1851 all the inhabitants of Groot Drakenstein are invited to a
public meeting at Jacob’s house to discuss the building of a school in conjunction with the Paarl Reformed Church. The Simondium school will play
an important role in the community, but Jacob’s offspring will not become
pupils. By the time the Louw couple and their three daughters, Elizabeth Maria
Jacoba, Cornelia Sophia and Hendrina Aletta, leave Vrede en Lust, the only
son and namesake, Jacob, is not yet born.
Vrede en Lust turns out a good business venture for Jacob. When he sells
the farm to William Rowan after six years, he makes a handsome profit of
more than £500. Having tried his hand at farming, Jacob goes into business
and becomes a merchant. He passes away in the sleepy town of Kenhardt on
6 February 1876 aged 58 years, two decades after leaving Vrede en Lust.

IVAN VOLSCHENK

I

William Rowan and Maria Smit
1854 – 1871

n 1854 a new era dawns in the history of Vrede en Lust. For the first
time in one and a half centuries, the farm is owned by an Englishman
– more precisely, an immigrant who was born in Northern Ireland
in 1780 and comes to the Cape to work as a clerk in the Naval Office in
1809. William Archibald Brown Rowan is destined to make his mark in the
history of Stellenbosch, where a street is named after him. One of his
descendants later marries the father of the Afrikaans language and a greatgrandson becomes a famous Afrikaans poet.
For his wedding to an Afrikaans girl, Agnita Olivier, Rowan travels to
Portpatrick in Scotland in 1811. The Rowans then return to run a retail
shop in Cape Town, situated at 1 Shortmarket Street. Maria Christina
Elizabeth is born on 10 December 1812 and Anna Sophia on 22 April 1814.
Both girls are baptised in the Reformed Church. In 1815 William relocates
his shop to 3 Lely Street, and then to 72 Loop Street. In 1815 the third
daughter, Mary, is born, and shortly afterwards William is appointed land
surveyor in Stellen­bosch. Experienced land surveyors are fairly important
people, for the perpetual quitrent system created a flood of applications
for land grants. Prospective farmers are so impatient to start farming that
dozens of them settle on land they do not yet own officially. By today’s
standards, this makes them squatters on these so-called request farms
and to land surveyor Rowan, these acts threaten his occupation. In 1826
Rowan is responsible for drawing up the plans for the Drostdy House,
the magistrate’s court and residence. That same year Rowan draws up
the official ground plan of the well-known Moeder­kerk (Dutch Reformed
Church) and calculates that it will accommodate 711 parishioners.
When Agnita dies shortly after making a will in 1820, she leaves William
with nine children. The very next year he marries Maria Johanna Smit.

While raising William’s nine children, he and Maria produce six children
of their own. A daughter, Elizabeth Rachel van Niekerk Rowan, marries
Jacob Joubert and their daughter, Elizabeth Jacoba Joubert, marries the
Rev. S J du Toit, the driving force behind the first Afrikaans language
movement. The Reverend’s son, Jacob Daniel du Toit, better known
as the Afrikaans poet Totius, is a major literary figure in the history of
Afrikaans poetry.
The acquisition of Vrede en Lust for £2 500 in 1854 finally makes the
74-year-old William a gentleman with his own country estate. There
is hardly a question of actually farming the land himself. However, his
namesake is a budding young farmer for whom the farm will make an auspicious inheritance, especially with the Cape wine market experiencing a
boom period. Young Bill Rowan is 28 years old when William Sr dies at the
time of the harvest of 1859, having enjoyed his farm for a scant five years.
Bill takes over the reins at a particularly trying time, for that is the fateful
year in which the devastating disease oidium first breaks out at the Cape.
In October and November unusually wet and humid conditions cause the
fungus to spread rapidly in the Drakenstein. Several farmers are faced with
the loss of their entire crop.
For the young Rowan heir and namesake, farming is one long struggle. No official deed of transfer is registered when his father dies, but one
suspects that Maria continues to live on Vrede en Lust with her son, his
wife and their nine children, five of whom are boys. In 1871 Bill decides
to call it a day and accepts £400 less than his father paid for the farm seventeen years before. Four years later when Bill (43) dies at his residence
in Stellenbosch in the prime of his life, his occupation is still noted on his
death certificate as “farmer”.

Cape wine export

The upswing in the Cape wine market is short-lived. In January 1860 Britain signs a free trade agreement with France
which drastically reduces import duties on French wines, and passes an act to abolish preferential tariffs on wine
from all foreign territories. This means that Cape wines now have to compete with the far superior French wines on
the British market. What is more, higher excise has to be paid on Cape wine after 1861 as a result of differential tariffs
based on proof spirit content. Within a matter of years, exports from the Cape become almost non-existent.

[VREDE & LUST]

41

CHRISTINE MEINTJES

W

Willem Haupt and Elizabeth Stuckeris
1871 – 1897

hen Jacob Louw takes transfer of Vrede en Lust in January 1848,
there is great rejoicing in the midst of another old Drakenstein
family. Johannes Haupt and his wife, Susanna van Niekerk,
celebrate the birth of their eighth child, Willem Adolph, who will become the
proprietor of Vrede en Lust 23 years later.
The great-grandson of the Swedish founding father of the Haupt family
in South Africa, Willem is married to Elizabeth Francis Stuckeris, his aunt
Anna’s niece. Elizabeth is the daughter of Anna’s brother, Johannes, and his
wife, Anna Catharina Deneys. Johannes advances the purchase price and
some money to get his daughter and son-in-law started in life, but the contract stipulates that Willem owes Elizabeth the amount of £2 650. He pays
£2 100 for the farm which includes the one-fifth section of Wolve Kloof.
The elderly Stuckeris couple moves to Vrede en Lust so that Elizabeth can
take care of her parents in their old age. When her sister, Catharina Elisa,
dies, Elizabeth also takes in the four minor children, Dirk Gysbert, Hester
Jessina, Adriaan Christiaan and Anna Christina, whose father is the sisters’
cousin, Adriaan Deneys (son of their mother’s brother). By now there is a
whole clan of Haupts, Stuckeris and Deneys residing on Vrede en Lust, some
of whom live in the jonkershuis.
Since 1860 the wine trade has gone through cycles of boom and bust. A
large portion of the surplus wine that was usually exported, is now sold on
the diamond and gold fields. In response to the new demand, the wine price
increases fourfold in little more than a decade. It is during this phase of
upswing that Vrede en Lust is officially transferred on 2 November 1871, but
by the end of the decade, a new excise tax is introduced on locally produced
brandy to help fill the empty state coffers. In the past, protest meetings held off
this threat, and now the wine farmers organise one of the biggest campaigns
ever against the proposed legislation. When the government makes concessions, the wine farmers are inspired to form a united front to protect their
own interests. In June 1877 the Zuid-Afrikaansche Wijnbouwersvereeniging
is founded in Cape Town, the idea having been initiated by a group of Paarl
farmers the previous year. The association’s general aim is to serve the wine
farmers by improving the quality of wine and negotiating a better price, but
due to internal strife, it is disbanded in 1882.
While trying to cope with the exacerbating economic conditions, Willem

42

[VREDE & LUST]

and Elizabeth have to deal with a double personal loss as well. Elizabeth loses
her father, who has been living with them, and Willem his uncle within a year
of each other. A few months later, in May 1879, one of Willem’s elder brothers, Johannes Jacobus, purchases a small section of Vrede en Lust. Johannes
sees a business opportunity to erect a distillery on this section. The plan is
thwarted when this section is sold three years later to George Hutchinson
who owns it until the Colonial Government disappropriated the land on
27 October 1903, probably for the construction of the new railway line.
During the 1881 disarmament war in Basuto­land, Willem serves as
field captain under his brother Johannes, the field commandant for Groot
Drakenstein, with 63 burghers and 275 levies (Coloured burghers) under
his command.
As from 1878 the wine farmers’ interests are promoted by the ZuidAfrikaansche Boeren­bescher­mings­vereeniging (ZABBV), an association
founded by Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr. The organisation lobbies for the abolition of the excise act, the reduction of the British import tax on Cape wine
and a better marketing system for wine and brandy. It also demands stricter
control over the importation of products which could be possible carriers of
Phylloxera Vasta­trix which first broke out in Mowbray in 1886 and was carried by lice from Europe.
By 1888 Willem’s coffers are drained, and he is forced to declare himself
insolvent. The inventory of the estate establishes the value of Vrede en
Lust at £1 200, but there is a mortgage bond of £2 650, an overdraft of £75
and diverse debts of £227, including £175 owing to Johannes Haupt. The
immoveable property consists of 12 stukvats, 10 fermenting tubs, 3 brandy
stills and 15 leaguers of unsold wine. Willem’s primitive wine making process
depends on a treading tub for pressing and a grape sieve for filtering. There is
a wooden funnel, a tin funnel, a wine pump and a fruit drier for raisins.
In the stable is but one saddle and pieces of an old harness. There is mention of 20 head of cattle and two horses, which he sold four years earlier to his
cousin Daniël Egbertus Pfeil Haupt. Daniël’s brother, Pieter Canzius Haupt,
inherited the neighbouring Plaisir de Merle, but could not be traced to claim
his inheritance. In the outside room are a carpenter’s bench, coffee mill, table,
fruit basket and tin funnel.
The Trustee’s report says that the insolvent, like many other wine farmers,

has had to contend with adverse times and has been obliged to surrender
his farm by reason of low wine prices. The Supreme Court allows Willem to
retain the property for nine more years after paying the sum of £1 650 which
represents the difference between the amount due and the value of the farm.
Two years after Willem’s sequestration, Drakenstein falls subject to the
destruction of the dreaded Phylloxera disease. When it eventually penetrates
the valley in the summer of 1890-1891, it causes more damage than anywhere else. Of the total infested vines in the Cape, almost 80 per cent are
in Drakenstein (170 138 from 214 652). Vineyards have to be uprooted at

enormous cost, inspections are held on a regular basis and infested vines
incinerated, altogether more than 22 million (a quarter of all vines at the
Cape) in the 1890s alone.
After Elizabeth’s death, Willem marries Mary Jane Buttenshaw, but he
becomes a widower for the second time in December 1897, six months to
the day after selling Vrede en Lust. For Vrede en Lust, 3 June 1897 marks
the end of a chapter spanning 26 difficult years. Willem Haupt passes away
a decade later at Nursery Road, Rondebosch, where he has been working as
a gardener.

In the manor
house and adjacent
jonkershuis the
extended family of
the Haupts enjoyed
a genteel lifestyle.

Victorian lifestyle

The Haupt couple and their four children, William Samuel, Emma Mary,
Jessie Anna and George Frederick, enjoy a genteel lifestyle conforming to
Victorian standards.
The U-shaped house has five bedrooms, a sitting room, dining room,
kitchen, pantry and loft. This very traditional and common layout probably stands on the site of an older homestead, the walls of which have
been incorporated. The loft above the downstairs rooms indicates that
the structure retained its 18th century style of dormer gable and high
roof line.
The decoration is far more stylish than a century before. Even
though the De Villiers’ were quite well-off, most of their belongings
were essential possessions rather than luxury items, such as the ornaments and flower boxes owned by the Haupts. The presence of a piano
with a music stand in the lounge hints at musical soirées with guests.
The chairs and sofa in the sitting room are sprung, the wood is mahogany, the sofa cushions are chintz, the chairs Madeira, and there are

fancy worked antimacassars. Anti­macassars were ornamental cloths
placed over chair backs to protect the upholstery from hair oil, produced in Macassar. They were typically displayed in refined homes.
These ones may have been the handiwork of the Haupt women, for
there is a sewing machine in the dining room. By the 1870s sewing
machines are widely used in the Cape, but obviously still chic enough
to be displayed in a reception room. The dining room contains a clock,
writing desk, mahogany wardrobe with drawers, large dining table and
10 chairs with cane seats. The main bedroom has a marble washstand,
teak four poster bedstead, two large mahogany wardrobes and two
infant’s cots.
In the Haupt household each one has his or her own quarters, unlike
the large spaces that were shared by family and domestic slaves in the
18th century. The bedrooms contain a single bed, wash stand and so on,
indicating that members of the family sleep, wash and keep their clothes
individually and privately.

[VREDE & LUST]

43

PICTURES: IVAN VOLSCHENK

T

Charles Kohler
1897 – 1899

he twelfth owner of Vrede en Lust is the man who, in 1916,
founds the Ko-operatiewe Wijnbouwers Vereniging van ZuidAfrika Beperkt or KWV (Co-operative Viticultural Association of
South Africa). Charles Kohler, the son of a British architect and engineer,
spends part of his youth in Franschhoek and Simondium and settles in
Paarl as a dentist at the youthful age of 21. When gold is discovered on
the Witwatersrand, he moves north in 1886 and amasses approximately
£35 000 – a small fortune – within a few years. For health reasons he leaves
the Rand in 1889 and takes his family on a voyage around the world.
Upon his return, he settles in Drakenstein and dedicates the rest of his
life to the wine industry.
As honorary secretary and later chairman of the Paarl Agricultural
Association, he encourages wine farmers to expand their knowledge of
viticulture and oenology and organises seminars and practical demonstrations. During the 1890s he joins the Afrikanerbond and serves as chairman
of the Drakenstein chapter, but after the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) he
is ousted from the Bond when he joins Dr L S Jameson’s Progressive Party.
In 1904 he is elected to the Legislative Council of the Cape parliament and
becomes a fervent champion of the wine farmers’ cause. In 1907 he establishes the Colonial Wine Farmers’ and Wine Merchants’ Association to
protect and promote the industry.
When Charles Kohler sells Vrede en Lust after two years, he makes a neat
profit of £1 500 and purchases an old Huguenot farm along the banks of the
Berg River. On Riverside, for which he pays a modest £1 310, Kohler soon
makes quality wines that fetch excellent prices.

[VREDE & LUST]

45

The Third Century
1899 â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1996

M
Henry Meyers
describes himself as a fruit
grower rather
than a wine
farmer.
48

[VREDE & LUST]

Henry Meyers and Charlotte Briggs
1899 – 1930

ore than two centuries after the original Vrede en Lust
grant, the surname Meyer(s) crops up again in the history
of the farm. Aletta, the first of the De Savoye children to
be born on African soil, married Pierre (Pieter) Meyer, a
Huguenot from Dauphine and one of the original immigrants in 1688, and
one of their sons, Philippe Rudolph Meyer, became deputy merchant and
cellar master of the Cape government. Countless Meyers in South Africa are
direct descendants of Jacques de Savoye.
The man who pays £3 500 for Vrede en Lust at the turn of the previous century is an English immigrant, born in Brentford and married in Twickenham.
For 42-year-old Henry Meyers and his wife, Charlotte Lucy Briggs, the New
Year is very special, having just moved into the lovely old farmstead. Over
the last hundred years, Vrede en Lust has not changed much with regard to
water courses and roads, but against the slopes of the Simonsberg there have
been major changes with vineyards being uprooted and replaced by orchards.
These modifications drastically alter the appearance and the activities of the
farm. Henry describes himself as a fruit grower rather than a wine farmer.
For now, everyone’s major concern is the Anglo-Boer War which breaks
out in 1899. Due to the influx of hundreds of thousands of British soldiers,
consumption of wine increases temporarily, but in the Groot Drakenstein

valley wine farmers are beginning to look for alternative sources of income.
Fruit farming is the most logical and attractive option. In 1891 the Paarl
district produced more than 100 000 tons of deciduous fruit, approximately
one quarter of the total figure for the Cape colony, and the majority of farmers were saved by pears and oranges. The Rhodes government (1890-96)
provided prospective fruit growers with encouragement and advice. Tens of
thousands of trees were planted. The farmers were receptive to suggestions
of a man like Harry Pickstone, an English immigrant who was to become one
of the most famous figures in the South African fruit industry – and one of
the future owners of Vrede and Lust. With first-hand knowledge gained in
California, Pickstone could immediately pinpoint the mistakes being made
by the inexperienced fruit farmers and warned, for example, that they were
irrigating far too much.
When deciduous fruit from the Cape started to be exported to London,
new nurseries became a matter of urgency. The first nursery with imported
commercial trees was established on the farm Nooitgedacht in Stellenbosch,
thanks to a loan of £100 made to Pickstone by Cecil John Rhodes. Other nurseries followed in Wellington, Hex River and Constantia. In 1896 Pickstone
and his brother, Horace, bought three farms in Drakenstein for the establishment of nurseries and founded the company Pickstone & Brother (Pty) Ltd.

Soon the Cape fruit trees, mostly pears, peaches and plums, compared with
the best in the world.
Drakenstein occupied centre stage in all these developments. Pickstone’s
faith in the future of the fruit industry convinced Rhodes to purchase farms
in the area after his resignation as prime minister of the Cape colony in 1896.
In partnership with De Beers Diamond Mines, the financial giant made more
than a quarter of a million pounds available to acquire a number of handpicked properties in Drakenstein and Fransch­hoek, including La Motte,
Good Hope, Rhône, Boschendal, Weltevreden, Watergat, Werda, Eenzaam,
Zondernaam and Nieuwehoop, which became known collectively as Rhodes
Fruit Farms (RFF) with Pickstone as the first general manager and technical
adviser. Within two years 200 000 trees were planted on RFF farms, thus
serving as an example to the wine farmers, who learnt that they could diversify their operations and plant fruit on the Phylloxera-infested soil without
any harmful side-effects.
The early growers soon come to appreciate the value of co-operative
efforts. In July 1899, a month after Henry Meyers takes transfer of Vrede
en Lust, the Western Province Fruit Exporters’ Association is founded and
moves to standardise and improve control. A decision is taken to use uniform box sizes, to employ a single agent, to supply crop estimates to shipping

companies, to urge that cold storage be made available at the docks in Cape
Town harbour and to ensure that official inspection of the fruit takes place at
the dockside. Even though the war has just broken out, 155 tons are exported
that year, compared to between 50 and 75 tons in 1892. By the end of the
Anglo-Boer War in 1902, volumes have increased to 214 tons. That same year
the first cold store at the Table Bay docks is completed, and South Africa can
be proud of the world’s first precooling chamber designed especially for fruit.
In America and Australia these developments come about much later.
When the war ends in 1902 a boom period in the Transvaal follows, parallel
to the expansion of the railway system, but wine farmers soon experience yet
another surplus situation. To save the industry from total ruin, the government passes Act 43 of 1905, making available £150 000 in loans to finance the
establishment of co-operative wine cellars.
It is against this background that the Meyers era at Vrede en Lust unfolds.
While reasonable prices for wine are still being paid in 1905, namely £5 per
leaguer, wine and brandy prices crash completely in 1907. Moreover, wine
merchants still have three years’ supplies on their hands which makes the
future of the industry even more sombre. At the insistence of Charles Kohler,
the biggest ever protest meeting of wine farmers takes place in the Cape Town
Hall on 14 April 1909, but the government cannot be moved. In Simondium,

[VREDE & LUST]

49

where the Drakenstein Co-operative Winery is founded with 10 members
and a nominal capital of £15 000, farmers suffer the same fate as elsewhere.
Although wine of a more uniform quality is being produced, production
costs at the co-operatives cannot be kept low and due to overcapitalisation,
exceed even those of the individual farmer.
Meanwhile, fruit farmers are faring exceptionally well. Between 1903 and
1914 exports increase from 314 tons to 6 452 tons, but are arrested when the
First World War breaks out. Exporters cannot procure sufficient cargo space on ships
and producers cannot find buyers for their
surplus on the local market. Tens of thousands of cases are stuck in the Cape Town
harbour and have to be destroyed.
At Vrede en Lust modern transport and
farming developments result in fragments
of the farm being chopped off. One such
loss is the distillery, built on the deduction
made in 1879 to Johannes Haupt. This is

demolished in 1907, when a strip alongside the public road and the thoroughfare is transferred to the Colonial Government for the new railway line
which runs closely past the farmyard.
In 1908 Henry Meyers and two of his neighbours, Coenraad Johannes
Beyers of La Motte and Fredericksburg and Willem Frederick Urtel of
Welgevonden and Watervliet, form the Donkerhoek Fruit Syndicate Limited
and enter into an agreement with the Drakenstein Co-operative Winery. The
latter will be supplied with a maximum of
3 000 imperial gallons of water every 24 hours
from the high-lying farms at no cost, provided it is used for winery purposes exclusively.
The water will be taken from Donkerhoek
and conducted to the existing reservoir of the
Winery by means of pipeline to be paid for
by the Drakenstein Co-operative Winery.
Charlotte tends Henry Meyers until his
death at Vrede en Lust on 26 April 1915. In
terms of the 58-year-old Henry’s will, the

1 91 5 Inventory

The complete list of implements comprises two Scotch carts, a wagon, a trolley cart, two
sets of double harnesses, two pairs of single harnesses, six sail cloths, a pair of front harnesses, two saddles, a wagon cloth, two sail tents, six halters, five pairs of swingles, three
Oliver ploughs, one twin furrow plough, a Howard plough, a harrow, a double furrow
plough, two Martin cultivators, one ringroller, two new rings for the roller, three vineyard
cultivators, twelve spades, eleven forks, one schop graaf, ten shovels, two rakes, ten
manure baskets, seven fruit gathering baskets, five pickaxes, three picks, a garden line,
a long wire planting line, a chain measure (100 ft. long), nine scissors for pruning trees,
five pruning saws, four long pruners, a cross cut saw, two handsaws, a small graded saw
for cutting out rings, three small choppers and two large ones, two bamboo ladders (36
and 16 steps respectively), four 6 ft. steps, four 10 ft. steps, two drills for dynamiting, two
hammers, one extractor, a pincher, a grindstone, a wheelbarrow, a set of chains for the six,
a Capeland plough and outfit, a C. & G. spray pump on the wagon, a small pump on the
cart, a water cart, a pump, two large tubs and eight small ones, three sheep shears, two
hedging shears, one chaff sieve and another small sieve, two screw spanners, a pincher, a
pipe key, seven spraying rods, four of which had pipes (40 yards long), a spraying pipe (40
yards long) without rod, another odd lot of spraying pipes, a farmer’s level, a hand level,
two funnels, a tin-top table, two large dining tables, two trowels, a Horse pilling pistol, a
chaff cutting machine, a large scale in the store, three platform scales, a small scale for
weighing poison, a small letter scale, three scythes, eight sickles, two whitewash brushes,
an anvil, a sewing press (for repairing harnesses), a tape line (60 ft.), two large boiling pots,
three long tables and trestles, two small trestles, six apple peelers, a letter press, a sugar

50

[VREDE & LUST]

tester, three oil stoves, a kitchen stove, five nailing down benches, two nail pullers, 150
old drying trays and 200 new ones (made), five small hammers, a handspout, a chair, four
open drums, three water drums, a devil’s grip, three large chaff boxes, a glass case, three
stable racks, seventeen womens’ chairs, a large wool box, one lot telephone wire, a type
case, fourteen grape scissors, an ink stand, eight peeling knives, a pincher for marking
sheep, three inking stamp pads, a packet of zinc screws, a footboard, two oil lanterns, two
candles, 102 rubber stamps, a lot rubber figures (for stamping boxes), a lot tin marking
letters, a roll of wire, a roll of netting wire, eighteen iron standers, forty droppers, a new
gate (10 ft.), four back pumps, a grafting stove, a ground digger, two boiling pots, a small
handscrew, a large screw, 75 lbs. box nails, a lot taps, a set smith’s tools, a lot Oliver plough
parts, another lot plough parts, a lot empty bags, a box of tools, 11 planks (15 ft. long), a
lot cultivator parts, a Scharenometer, a grafting knife, a lot stationery, eight iron covers
for trays, a lot paraffin tins, 11 six ft. corrugated sheets, 10 000 second bricks, a telephone
outfit (2 500 yards), five trolleys for gas houses and 75 yards railing.
Packing materials include made and unmade boxes. Of the former kind, 10 200; of
the latter, 9 896. There were 15 bales of woodwool (3 000 lbs.), box cleats, 242 printed
papers for pears, 450 lbs. extra paper for grapes, a lot end labels, another lot labels and
220 long boxes. The livestock consisted of five mules, a horse, a goat, an ox, four cows and
four heifer calves. In the stables were 54 bales of chaff and a bag of bran. Henry held fire
wood in stock to the value of £7; plus various sprays and poison (15 lbs. blue stone and
75 lbs. sulphur). The bees account included 10 stocks of bees, a honey extractor and a lot
of implements.

widow and the Meyers’ only child, Dora Kathleen Lottie Rennie, retain the
farm and benefits for the rest of their lives. Shortly afterwards, with considerable weekly wages to be paid, Charlotte makes an application to the Master
of the Orphan Chamber who accepts a security bond for the sum of £2 500.
Further security is waived for the landed property is already mortgaged to its
full value of £8 000. Vrede en Lust now measures 63 morgen, and the Meyers
also have rights to the adjacent 199 morgen of the perpetual quitrent land
called Wolve Kloof.
While the inventory drawn up on 4 May 1915 values Henry Meyers’ movable property at £500, he also leaves £326 in cash. By 1916 the financial crisis
of the wine farmers reaches an all-time low. The merchants are few and in
a situation to make any offer to the farmers who accept anything as being
better than nothing. Drakenstein, with its economy to a very large extent still
based on viticulture, is severely threatened. Fortunately a considerable section of Vrede en Lust is now planted to apples and pears, which are carefully
packed not only in labelled boxes but also in printed papers, most likely for
export. Some fruit is dried on the 150 drying trays.
However, in 1919 the widow Meyers is forced to sell off 23 morgen at
the Wolve Kloof end of the farm, situated against the mountain. It is purchased by a family friend and executor of Meyers’ estate – Harry Ernest
Victor Pickstone, one of the most famous men in the Cape deciduous fruit
industry. Henceforth this part of the farm is known as Wolve Kloof, not to
be confused with the huge expanse of wasteland against the mountain also
called Wolve Kloof.
Charlotte Meyers lives on the parent farm for another decade until her
death, aged 70, in 1928. When her daughter, Dora Rennie, passes away
in 1930, it is the end of the Meyers family tenure which lasted more than
three decades. Henceforth the history of Vrede en Lust is traced along
dual paths.

In 1920, the well-known author Dorothea Fairbridge visited
the area and described Vrede en Lust as follows:
“The homestead of Vrede en Lust is set amongst trees and cut
off from the surrounding country by a low white wall. The house
is simple in comparison with the very graceful outbuildings. This
peculiarity, which may be noticed in other instances, suggests
that the original homestead may have been destroyed by a fire
which spared the surrounding buildings and have been rebuilt on
economical lines. The gables of the outbuildings, like those of Bien
Donné, show distinct French influence.” (Historic Houses of South
Africa, Maskew Miller, Cape Town)

Harry and Louisa Pickstone,
Pickstone & Son
(23 morgen Wolve Kloof)

1919 – 1977

Horace Pickstone
(40 morgen Vrede en Lust)

1930 – 1944

Harry &
Louisa
Pickstone

In April 1923 the millionth
case of deciduous fruit is
exported from Table Bay.
The shipper of this particular case of pears is …
Harry Pickstone!

52

[VREDE & LUST]

The Pickstone era at Vrede en Lust starts in 1919 when Harry
Pickstone buys 23 morgen of the farm from the estate of the late
Henry Meyers. Three years later the property is transferred to his
wife of 15 years, Louisa, possibly to avoid estate duty. Henceforth
this section will be known as “the top farm” or Wolve Kloof, for
Pickstone simultaneously buys 199 morgen of the huge perpetual

quitrent farm lying against the slopes of Simonsberg. He consolidates the two properties, but a part is sold off to the Government for
forestry purposes in 1942. The bottom section of Vrede en Lust, the
parent farm measuring 40 morgen, is bought by Pickstone’s younger
brother, Horace, from the estate of Dora Rennie, daughter of Henry
Meyers, in 1930.

arry Ernest Victor Pickstone first distinguished himself as a
champion of fruit farming in the Cape and then went into
the nursery business with his brother, Horace, ensuring
that Drakenstein played a leading role in the budding fruit
farming industry in the Cape colony. Harry, the second of seven children,
is born to William Pickstone and Mary Elizabeth Tabor, in Prestwich,
Lancashire, England, on 4 July 1865, into a fairly well-off mill-owning family.
In 1884-5 he serves in the expedition of Sir Charles Warren in Bechuanaland.
In 1888 Harry goes gold pros­pecting in the United States and works as a hotel
waiter and labourer in the Californian fruit orchards, as well as undertaking
horticultural contract work. Realising that conditions in the Cape colony are
similar to those in California, the 27-year-old immigrates to South Africa,
arriving on board the Grantully Castle in March 1892 with nothing but his
luggage and 30 shillings.
Pickstone’s timing is impeccable. He is the right man at the right place at
the right time. Within two years, he is so busy developing the fruit industry
at the Cape, enjoying the support of the Rhodes government, that Harry
sends for his brother, Horace, to come and help establish nurseries to supply Cape fruit farmers with urgently needed trees. Harry and Horace are
eventually joined by a third brother, the youngest of their family, Septimus
Percy, who sets up and manages a branch of the family business in Waverley,
Johannesburg.
While Harry Pickstone is managing Rhodes Fruit Farms (RFF), he also
buys a number of farms in the Groot Drakenstein valley for his own concern.

On 29 January 1907 he marries the 21-year-old Louisa Hooff May in London,
and they settle on Lekkerwijn (literally ‘nice wine’, a corruption of the original French name ‘L’écrivain’, meaning ‘The writer’). Two more nurseries are
established on Meerlust and Delta, and in 1913 Harry and Horace found the
firm H E V Pickstone and Brother (Pty) Ltd. Harry also acquires the farms
Platklip (Clocolan, in the former Orange Free State), Verdun (Klawer, Cape)
and Nieuwe­hoop in Simondium.
While wine farming hardly seems worth the effort, fruit farmers cannot
complain. On Vrede en Lust, too, fruit has become the pivot of the action,
with hundreds of fruit trees that have come into bearing since the death of
Henry Meyers. In April 1923 the millionth case of deciduous fruit is exported
from Table Bay. The shipper of this particular case of pears is … Harry
Pickstone! A celebratory dinner is held for the growers to rejoice in this
milestone. Huge strides have been made in terms of technical progress. By
1924 farmers are assured of temperature control at the quayside, and in 1925
£134 000 is approved for spending on cold storage chambers in the docks.
The improvements quadruple the dock capacity. Upon completion of the full
programme in 1927, the precooling installation is the most up-to-date of its
kind in the world. In 1932, 28 000 tons are shipped to overseas markets.
For all its apparent success, the fruit industry also suffers immense setbacks
until technical and quality problems are ironed out. The 1935-36 season is
one of disaster, with producers discovering that most of the fruit arrived in
England woolly and inedible. The over-eager fruit farmers make the same
mistakes as the 19th century wine farmers by producing ever-increasing vol-

H

JEAN-PIERRE UYS

umes of lower grade fruit, putting quantity before quality. When the Second
World War breaks out, the Cape deciduous fruit industry is in disarray.
For the Pickstones 1939 is a grievous year. On 22 January, their only child,
Michael Xavier, dies tragically at Lekkerwijn in the presence of his father. At
the time Michael, also a farmer, was living on Meerlust in Groot Drakenstein
with his wife, Joan Marie McGeoghegan, and the couple’s two daughters,
Margaret Tabor and Wendy May. Harry passes away on 6 May 1939, leaving
all his debentures in H E V Pickstone & Brother Ltd to his wife. His loyal
secretary, Cecil Laurence Bick, receives 3 000 shares in H E V Pickstone &
Brother Ltd, to devolve upon his son, Percy Bick.
Except for a number of stipulated legacies, Louisa inherits all Harry’s other
assets, including £3 000 life insurance and the two estates, Lekkerwijn and
Meerlust, both with homesteads. The inventory of his estate also lists Trimoa,
47 morgen in Van Rynsdorp; Delta, 4 morgen in Groot Drakenstein, leased
to the Groot Drakenstein Games Club; Nieuwehoop, a part of the farm Sion,
measuring 125 morgen; and property at Mossel River, Caledon district, as
well as a Wolseley Hornet motorcar and an Armstrong Siddeley.
After three decades as the official owner of Vrede en Lust, Louisa consolidates her land holdings and transfers Wolve Kloof to a holding company
called Pickstone & Son. She remains actively involved in the daily running of
the farm until her death in 1966, when her assets pass to her granddaughter,
Wendy Pickstone, also living at Lekkerwijn.
For a quarter century, from 1952 to 1977, the owners on paper are Pickstone
& Son (Pty) Ltd, the company which incorporates the farms Meerlust, Delta,

Wine
and
brandy

Farmers are indeed successful, and not only because of fruit. In 1918 the KWV is
founded with the purpose of looking after the wine farmers’ interests; by January
1921, there are 2 658 members. The demand for wine and brandy balances, and
the entire production, namely 564 356 hl in 1918 and 635 577 hl in 1919, is sold
out. Bet­ween 1918 and 1921 the number of vines in the Cape increase from
86,9 million to 101,2 million. However, by the end of 1920, the first signs of an
economic recession are evident. Demand for wine and spirits far exceeds supply

Watervliet and Wolve Kloof. The headquarters are situated at Lekkerwijn
to this day. Wendy Pickstone remembers Wolve Kloof as a highly productive export grape farm, managed by Mike Stiglingh. For many years a block
of high-trellis table grapes, planted in the wet bottom section, are known
throughout the industry as ‘Pickstone’s folly’.
Even though the Pickstones live at Lekkerwijn, they regularly go up to
high-lying Wolve Kloof to enjoy the view and hold picnics. A timber cottage
is built from the first wood to be produced in their own forest and sawmill;
this becomes a summer house for afternoon teas. The historic cellar becomes
a packshed. During the war years, labourers’ cottages are built between the
packshed and the road.
By 1948 the Roslin Castle and the Rothesay Castle, huge steamers fitted
with refrigerating chambers designed to transport large quantities of fruit,
are back in commercial service. The 1950s see producers emerging from the
lean war years into a boom period. While high prices prompt extensive plantings, growers are more conscious of strategic planning and efficient business
practices. In 1958 a devastating fire rages through the docks, but soon even
better facilities are erected. To deal with the temporary disruption in delivery,
a quota system and a seven-day loading week are introduced. In the 1960s
the ‘Cape’ label is adopted for all South African deciduous fruit marketed
overseas. The familiar logo, a hallmark of quality, meets with phenomenal
success and becomes the envy of producers around the globe.
Having been a functional property for the Pickstone empire for 58 years,
Wolve Kloof is eventually sold in 1977.

and the subsequent shortages allow wine merchants to offer the farmers excessive prices for distilling wine. This causes a steep increase in the price of brandy,
which in turn curbs the demand, especially with consumers beginning to have
less disposable income. A record crop in 1921 forces the KWV to declare two thirds
thereof a surplus. For the next few years a concerted effort has to be made to get rid
of wine and brandy stocks, with about one quarter of the total production in 1921,
1922 and 1923 being destroyed.

[VREDE & LUST]

53

H

Horace Pickstone

orace Pickstone, barely 21 and eight years younger than
Harry, follows his elder brother to the Cape in 1894. In 1913,
they found H E V Pickstone & Brother (Pty) Ltd, and from
1916 onwards, nursery operations are based on Water­vliet en
Welgevonden in Simondium.
In December 1919 Horace starts buying land in Paarl for his own
personal use. In 1921 he buys The New House, 4 morgen of freehold
land in Simondium, part of the farm Rust-en-Vrede, today consolidated
with Plaisir de Merle. In 1826 Horace is widowed when his wife, Esther
Elizabeth, dies while visiting her in-laws in London. Four years later, on
11 July 1930, Horace buys the beautiful farm Vrede en Lust for £7 800 when
Dora Rennie passes away.
While the Second World War is looming, the Deciduous Fruit Board
starts operating in October 1939. Even though the government subsidises
canning and drying of fruit, export opportunities are scarce and by the end
of the War, many farmers are destitute. Not so Horace Pickstone, who is
then living in The New House, alias the Rust-en-Vrede homestead. When
he decides to sell Vrede en Lust after 14 years, the decision is prompted
by old age rather than financial worries. He even makes a neat profit of
£2 500 on the farm. When Horace passes away in the age of 76 years on
30 March 1949, the value of his estate amounts to £108 786 and includes
two motorcars, a Nash and a Lincoln Zephyr. The Pickstones never had any
children, therefore most of the fortune is inherited by Horace’s second wife,
Margaretha Johanna Pick­stone née Cloete.

Norman Berold & daughters
(40 morgen Vrede en Lust)

W

1944 – 1988

hen Norman Berold pays £10 275 for the 40 morgen parent section of
Vrede en Lust on 21 September 1944, three days before his 45th birthday, it is to remain in his family for almost half a century. Upon Berold’s death
in 1964, the farm is deeded to his daughters, Yvonne Beulah Galombik (born
12 April 1930), married out of community of property to Arnold Galombik,
and Leonie Eve Zurnamer (born 20 January 1927), married out of community of property to Joseph Zurnamer. The transfer deed shows that in the
two decades after Berold bought Vrede en Lust, the value of the property
increased considerably to R146 650.
To Berold it becomes a labour of love not only to increase the farm’s value,
but also to restore the old homestead. The project takes five years and to commemorate the date of the restoration, the gable features the dates 1688-1955.
There is still much evidence today of the detail that went into the renovations.
His initials, NB, are engraved on the door knobs leading to the back of the

house and his name features on the copper gutters. As the owner of Brunzell
Bruply, he has access to large supplies of wood, but furthermore, he is an expert
on salvaging. This explains how he acquires the firescreen from the Paarl Wine
& Brandy Company when they moved premises, and the limestone fireplace,
removed brick by brick from the Syfrets boardroom. During the restoration,
the Berold family lived on the bottom section of the farm, in a cedarwood house
built on stilts due to regular flooding after rainstorms.
At the time of the restoration, a wine cellar is discovered under the house.
While being underpinned to create stability, the cellar reveals another cavity,
which probably housed slaves in days gone by. Another interesting clue to the
lifestyle of yesteryear lies in the yellowwood floorboards. According to expert
evaluation, these are broader than the planks sourced locally, indicating that
they were probably imported. This confirms that the original builder of the
house, Jacob Marais, was a wealthy man.
Following his father-in-law’s death, the task of farming falls mostly to
Joseph Zurnamer, who also owns farms at Windmeul in Agter Paarl, namely
Langverwacht and Olyvenbosch, and Rouxvale in Robertson. His brotherin-law, Arnold Galombik, runs a busy legal practice and is not involved in
the farm. The Zurnamers, who live in Sea Point and use the farm as a weekend retreat, appoint Thys Klein as farm manager. Joe Zurnamer pays the
farm daily visits and replaces the pear orchards with plums. Grapes include
Hanepoot (5 hectares) and Riesling (2,8 hectares).
When the Zurnamer children emigrate to Australia, Vrede en Lust comes
onto the market once again.

Roger Kebble

(23 morgen Wolve Kloof)

W

1977 – 1990

hen Roger Ainsley Ralph Kebble buys Wolve Kloof from Pickstone
and Son (Pty) Ltd on 2 August 1977, the new owner is a youthful
38 years old. Originally from the Free State, Kebble has interests in the gold
mining industry and a house in Bishop’s Court, where he continues to live.
He also owns a farm in the Rawsonville area. The management of Wolve
Kloof, the measurement of which is now indicated no longer in morgen, but
as 19,7873 hectares, is left in the hands of Sakkie Coetzer.
As in the Pickford era, Wolve Kloof is considered a business transaction, a financial investment in a portfolio of assets, rather than a home or
an exquisite place from which to take pleasure. Throughout this period in
the history of Vrede en Lust, both the top and bottom farms are subject to
absentee ownership.

David Ladds and
Mathilda van Zyl

(40 morgen Vrede en Lust)

1988 – 1996

A

merchant banker whose lifelong dream it was to own a Cape wine farm
becomes the 17th owner of Vrede en Lust. When the opportunity presents
itself to buy the farm in 1988, David Ladds, his wife, Mathilda (Matty), and their
three daughters, Saskia, Bianca and Kim, move from Gauteng to start a new
life in the Cape. The family would cherish Vrede en Lust, and it would be an
appropriate homage by a Van Zyl descendant. The land and improvements are
sold by Joe Zurnamer on behalf of the Berold daughters to a holding company,
the Stockfin Trust, for R1,35 million, and the movable assets for R150 000. The
transaction is handled by Arnold Galombik.
The Ladds find the house in a good condition, requiring only minor renovations. The ceilings are sanded to reveal the rich glow of antique yellowwood
beneath layers of brown paint. The house is furnished with period pieces,
including a valuable 17th century armoire, which would henceforth remain in
the house as a fixture.
The development of the farm proves daunting and requires a lot of subterranean work to solve the water problems. A new borehole is built and modern
submersible equipment sunk. Chardon­nay and Cabernet Sauvignon are planted and delivered to KWV, with one of the new vineyard blocks coming third
in the annual producers’ competition. Five hectares are planted with new varieties of plums, including Letitia, Gaviota and Sungold. Matty, taking a keen
interest in the eight families of farm workers, implements Rural Foundation
upliftment programmes and literacy classes, establishes a crèche and collaborates with health care workers to raise the standard of living of the labourers.
Furthermore, she converts the old cottage by the entrance to the farm into a
homeware shop named after Pierre Simond, the first Huguenot minister.
Building up a Hereford stud becomes the Ladds’ hobby. To ensure a reliable
source of water for their pastures, David diverts the water flow to the bottom section. In 1996 this arrangement is formalised with the Irrigation Board and henceforth six adjacent farms would receive water from the top farms Donkerhoek,
owned by Robert Koch, and Flenterskloof, owned by Dawid de Villiers.
The tarring of the road in 1993-94 is a joint venture between David Ladds,
his neighbour Rob Morley at Wolve Kloof and the Department of Forestry.
The dirt road was badly damaged by the heavy trucks driving between the
main road at the bottom and the forest at the top. For Morley in particular,
who transported his table grapes to the packhouse over a very uneven surface,
a tarred road was essential.
In 1996 the Ladds family moves closer to Paarl and sells the 43 hectare farm
to Vrede en Lust Farms Pty Ltd.

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57

Rob and Catherine Ann Morley
(23 morgen Wolve Kloof)

1990 – 1996

I

n 1990 the Wolve Kloof section of Vrede en Lust is transferred
to Cathbert Farm CC. Cathbert is a composite name for Robert
and Catherine Ann Morley, the new owners, who move from
Tamboerskloof in Cape Town to Simondium with the intention of eventually running a guest house.
For R850 000, the Morleys purchase two sections, the first consisting
of 20 hectares of farming land, while the second, a much smaller section,
measures approximately 5 hectares. This part, kept aside as a separate
entity by Harry Pickstone, would be retained once the Morleys had built
up and resold the neglected Wolve Kloof. Referred to as “the wisdom of
Pickstone”, the magnificent spot may have been earmarked for a retirement
house for the Pickstones, but it was also a useful site for a dam.
To the Morleys it becomes a huge challenge to farm the bigger section
while developing the smaller one as a country inn. Although the vineyards
are not nearly in optimal production, the potential is obvious. Furthermore,
the timing is better than ever for Drakenstein producers specialising in
export table grapes. Some cultivars are replanted – upon their arrival,
they found Waltham Cross, Dauphine, Barlinka, New Cross and Dan Ben
Hana – and they also plant plums. By 1994-95, Wolve Kloof is named the
seventeenth best table grape producer in South Africa, an award made by
Unifruco, the umbrella body for the marketing and distribution of Cape
deciduous fruit abroad.
While the grapes are packed on the farm, the plums are delivered in bins
to the Stellenbosch Co-operative Fruit Packers. The local packsheds are
situated a stone’s throw from both Vrede en Lust and Wolve Kloof. The
co-op, as a Unifruco depot, also takes in prepacked grapes in 4,5 kg cartons,
thus simplifying distribution. Packing of export grapes is a highly labourintensive operation and international standards require careful wrapping of

58

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selected bunches in tissue paper. The exporter’s biggest concern is to prevent dust from settling on the berries, which proved inevitable whenever
the Department of Forestry was harvesting in the pine forests above Wolve
Kloof. With logging carrying on day and night, not only was the fruit
adversely affected by the dust, but also by the potholes in the road caused
by the large trucks with their heavy loads. On historic grounds, in terms of
the title deeds, Forestry is responsible for the upkeep of the servitude road
and in 1993-94, the road was tarred.
In the history of most farms, there are court cases involving servitude
roads and water rights. Throughout the years, both Wolve Kloof and Vrede
en Lust had their fair share of both. Water rights pertaining to Vrede en Lust
were allocated on 13 July 1753, and confirmed in a resolution of the magistrate and Heemraden on 20 December 1771, to make available irrigation
water from the dam situated in the higher stretch of river that later passed
through La Motte and Fredricksburg and then back again through the farmyard of Vrede en Lust.
In 1994 the application for a water quota from the Berg River is granted
by the Department of Water Affairs giving Wolve Kloof an allowance of 24
hectares. This means that the dam, built in 1992, can be pumped to capacity
whenever there is insufficient rain water. Seven kilometres of pipeline were
laid over a four-month period.
Rob and Catherine Morley turned Wolve Kloof around from being a
struggling farm to a going concern. Even though it was never their intention to become farmers, they nurtured and loved the land, reaping ample
rewards from the satisfaction of guiding and coaxing nature and retraining
the farm workers. Through a concerted effort of upliftment, the six families
who helped them rebuild the farm now enjoyed a much higher standard of
living. In the 1990s, Wolve Kloof again became a happy, laughing farm.

The Fourth Century
1996

JEAN-PIERRE UYS

RIAAN VERMEULEN

T
Buys honourably
reunited the two
historic sections
of Vrede en Lust
and the farm
now looked like
it did in 1783

The Buys era
1996

he story of wine in South Africa is a tale of magic, a
romantic epic, spanning almost three and a half centuries. It recounts a solid tradition of grape growing
and wine making and is such an integral part of South
African history, that the story of wine truly reflects our
economic and political fortunes. The development of
the industry went through many ups and downs, with
the odds often against wine farmers. The first vineyards survived despite
torching by the indigenous Khoisan folk, despite bird plagues, and thanks to
the commitment of the early pioneers.
The 19th century saw two major setbacks. In 1834, following the abolition
of slavery, many Dutch farmers abandoned their properties and left on the
Great Trek to the hinterland. In 1861, the Gladstone government abolished
preferential tariffs and, with French wines reasserting themselves, the Cape
wine market collapsed. Then the devastating phylloxera disease arrived in the
Cape, decimating vineyards and ruining fortunes.
Early in the 19th century, after the introduction of resistant root-stock,
growing conditions were optimal once more. This in itself created problems
such as over-production, with millions of litres being dumped into rivers and
gutters. In 1918 stability was restored by the formation of the Co-operative
Wine Growers Association of South Africa (KWV). However, bureaucratic
restrictions prohibited the importation of foreign plant material and protectionism became the name of the game.
With KWV legally empowered to control production through quotas and
fixing minimum prices, there was little leeway for original and adventurous
wine making. At this stage in the industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fortunes, the quality of the wines
left much to be desired and attempts to re-enter the European market were
unsuccessful. Following this period of dormancy, tremendous changes came
about and one dares to speak of a complete transformation. Modern South
African wines have been confidently asserting themselves on the world stage;
nowadays they hold their own in any company and even play starring roles.
The decade of the 1990s saw extensive and intensive changes in the wine
industry. Neither the intrinsic renewal of the vines and vineyards, nor the
experimentation with varieties, regions, soils and climates, is an overnight
happening. But what had been a systematic renewal, suddenly went into
overdrive. All of a sudden there were countless new wine styles, blends,
methods and labels.
These ramifications, both with regard to quantity and quality, were due

mainly to structural upheavals. The extent to which the industry blossomed
when KWV relinquished its controlling role and became a free market
operator, is staggering. As a direct result of the 1992 suspension of KWVâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
quota system, which had been introduced in 1957, the number of producers
increased dramatically, especially in Stellenbosch and Paarl. While throngs of
smaller wineries emerged, huge investments were also made.
It is against this background that the renewed commitment to the fate of
Vrede en Lust makes sense.
By an interesting twist of fate, the endeavour to position the Drakenstein
farm with the best fell to yet another entrepreneur, rather than a tiller of the
soil. When Dana Buys, dynamic chairman of an international computer software company, saw the opportunity to benefit from the deregulating changes
in the South African wine industry, he purchased Vrede en Lust (measuring
34,8438 hectares) plus the two portions traditionally attached to it, namely
portions 4 and 5 of La Motte (measuring 196 and 272 square metres respectively), from the Stockfin Trust.
The property was deeded to Vrede en Lust Farms (Pty) Ltd and soon thereafter Dana Buys got the opportunity to prove his bona fides. When neighbouring Wolve Kloof came onto the market, Buys honourably reunited the
two historic sections of Vrede en Lust. Vrede en Lust now looked like it did
in 1783, when 25-year-old Jan de Villiers, the father of two infants, inherited
half of the original freehold (sixty morgen plus the four morgen 500 square
roods annexed by his father from La Motte). Shortly before selling, owner
Rob Morley had the land surveyed and the boundary line moved, because it
ran right through the house in which he had been living, and which had been
the farm managerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house for many decades.
For all intents and purposes Wolve Kloof thus gained about 3 000 square
metres, and a new numbering system came into effect. On the deed of transfer (T60480/97), the farm was officially renumbered as Erf 1537, no longer a
part of farm 950. The top section is reached by a road running parallel to the
border with Fredericksburg (in the previous century, this same road was used
by neighbours to get to the church at Simondium). The road passes through
a gate where there used to be a smithy on one side and a mill on the other.
Since 14 August 1838 it has been used as a private or church road only.
Buys, the eldest of three brothers, entered into a partnership with his
younger brother, Etienne, to manage the farm and oversee the viticultural
improvements. The modern farm measures 56 hectares, 48 of which have
been planted to noble cultivars. Current plantings comprise predominantly

[VREDE & LUST]

63

Cabernet Sauvignon, followed by Shiraz and Merlot, with smaller plantings
of Grenache, Malbec, Chardonnay, Petit Verdot and Viognier. The vineyards
are interspersed with olive trees.
The farmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s signature wines have turned out to be fruit-driven. The
Simonsberg slopes produce excellent quality Bordeaux cultivars and very
fruity Malbec. Outstanding and unusual results have been obtained with fullbodied, tannin-rich Merlot. The soils are not homogeneous and range from
alluvial to weathered granite. Such extremes are typical of the long thin farms
that were allocated to the Huguenots. All grapes are produced according to
environmentally friendly methods.
Cabernet Sauvignon was planted in front of the historic cellar and in 1998
the former cattle pastures were planted to Shiraz. The pastures above the
homestead were turned into a delightful dam with wading birds and paddocks for the Buys familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s horses. On the Wolve Kloof section, table grapes
and plums were replaced with Cabernet, Malbec and Merlot. Petit Verdot
and Cabernet Sauvignon replaced the Riesling planted by Zurnamer.
The acquisition of the top section of the farm was a sensible decision, not
only from a historical point of view, but also in view of practical considerations. The only irrigation dam is situated on the Wolve Kloof section and
may be supplemented with a 96 million litre allocation of water from the
Berg River. Overlooking the dam is a farmhouse which was renovated in
1999 and is now occupied by Etienne and Tracey Buys and their two children, Monique and Daniel.

64

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65

The new millennium

The vineyards
are classified
under the Wine
of Origin ward
SimonsbergPaarl

66

[VREDE & LUST]

As the new millennium got under way, Vrede en Lust started living up to its
enormous potential. Expansion, acquisition, maturity – these are the developments that transformed the historic hub of the farm into a showcase for
the South African wine industry. A comprehensive building programme was
undertaken under the aegis of Johan Malherbe from Malherbe Rust architects in Paarl, who visualised the new winery as an integral part of the old
farmyard and positioned it just inside the entrance gate.
Legendary winemaker and former Mondavi Winemaker of the Year,
Günter Brözel designed the working cellar. Brözel worked with Etienne
Buys to ensure that the new cellar would be environmentally friendly, labour
friendly and highly efficient, while supporting top quality wine production.
For aesthetic and practical reasons, to minimise differences of scale, half of
the winery is under ground.
The winery complex, completed in 2002, includes a spectacular tasting
venue with panoramic views. The tasting room opens onto a spacious and
tranquil plaza, from where visitors can enjoy the sublime beauty of the surrounding mountains and vineyards. An underground tasting room, overlooking the maturation cellar below, is ideal for private tastings and dinners.
Architect Johan Malherbe assisted with the renovation work on the manor
house and old cellar. Following Dana’s marriage to lawyer Anneke Louw in
June 2008, Malherbe also designed the new manor house. The gracious residence is situated a short distance from the historic farmyard and facilitates a
hands-on approach from the Buys couple, who are dedicated to running the
winery as a family business. As direct sales manager, Anneke is passionately
involved from the tasting room to international wine shows. Dana’s two
daughters, Jessica and Sarah, from his previous marriage to Cara, are often
seen in the tasting room. Anni Buys, the latest addition to the Buys clan, will
help grow the family business to new heights.
Following the celebration of the maiden harvest in 2002, the first wines
were released in September 2003. The vineyards are classified under the
Wine of Origin ward Simonsberg-Paarl, as part of the Paarl Wine Region.
Since then the range has evolved to include award-winning reds and whites.
The flagship is the Boet Erasmus, named after the Buys brothers’ late

grandfather. A long-term Vice President of the International Rugby Board,
he played a major role in his grandsons’ lives and introduced them to fine
wines. The family proudly uphold their grandfather’s dictum: “The bigger the blessing, the bigger the responsibility.” In 2010 the Boet Erasmus
received the South African Red Trophy at the IWC in London. The wine
is an elegant new world style Bordeaux blend of predominantly Cabernet
Sauvignon and Merlot, with some Malbec and Petit Verdot. The classical
varietals are complemented by abundant fruit and the wine is matured in
French oak.
Acclaimed winemaker Susan Erasmus scooped the Woman Winemaker
of the Year award with her 2007 Vrede en Lust Viognier. What’s more, the
signature wine was made in her maiden vintage on the farm. Expressive
and explosive, this Viognier with its typical apricot and peach flavours has
managed to wow judges and the public alike. The 2008 vintage received
the National Terroir Award for the Top Viognier and was selected for the
Nederburg Auction in 2010. It was also voted Best White at RMB WINEX
in Johannesburg in 2010 – wine lovers fall in love with the big, bold and
daring style.
Another sensational single varietal wine is made from a two hectare block
of Malbec situated high up along the Simonsberg on Vrede en Lust. The
Mocholate Malbec with its aromas of mocha and chocolate is a brand new
interpretation of this cultivar. An accessible, fun red wine, it is served slightly
chilled in the tasting room and literally flies off the shelf. At the Old Mutual
Trophy Awards, the Malbec won Best Wine on Show.
The sophisticated Jess Dry Rosé also claims superstar status. Named after
Dana Buys’ eldest daughter, Jessica Lee on her sixteenth birthday, it displays
fresh strawberry, raspberry and watermelon fruit, floral notes and a smooth
finish. A Pinotage/Shiraz blend, the Jess won a gold Michelangelo award in
2010 and received a Best Value Award from WINE magazine in 2011.
It is a fitting tribute to a decade of commitment and passion that 2010
proved a phenomenal year for the Vrede en Lust wines. In addition to the
accolades that were bestowed on the Boet Erasmus, the Viognier, the Malbec
and the Jess Dry Rosé, the Marguerite Chardonnay was honoured by the

2010 Terroir award for Simonsberg, Paarl and Franschhoek. This luscious wine,
a limited edition made from a block in front of the manor house, also received
gold Veritas and Michelangelo awards. It is named after the daughter of the first
proprietor of Vrede en Lust, Jacques de Savoie.
The charming tradition of naming wines after the daughters of the owners was
also upheld in 2010 with the launch of Vrede en Lust Sarah. The unwooded, easy
drinking Chardonnay which commemorates Sarah Buys’ sweet sixteenth and
carries her name is a gorgeous tribute with lemon blossom and orange tones.
In the expanded production cellar, technology rules – as may be expected
from a proprietor who is a technoboffin. To process the crops from the new
holdings, the cellar now has a capacity of 750 tons. It efficiently handles the
additional volumes with state of the art must-haves such as an automatic
sorter to preserve whole berries and eliminate oxidation, as well as a closed
system press.
Hi-tech and ultramodern notwithstanding, the winemaker nurses each

wine with the love that a mother bestows on her children. Her ambition
for them is infinite, her devotion boundless. In the underground maturation cellar there is evidence everywhere of coaxing the best from each with
different variations on the oak theme. Barrel sizes differ, so do the cooperages and the kinds of oak, to extract and enhance. Even white wines are
subject to varying degrees of wood maturation, especially those made from
Elgin grapes.
To suit and reward the broadest range of wine lovers’ preferences, Vrede
en Lust has developed a comprehensive wine club. Special offers apply to
award winning wines and other products as well as accommodation on the
historic estate.
Members have first option to purchase special release wines and experimental batches, such as the Artisan Wine Range, which changes each year
and testifies to the winemaker’s passionate voyage of discovery in the young
vineyards and the natural terroir of the land.

70

[VREDE & LUST]

With loving care Dana,
daughters Jess and Sarah,
and Anneke Buys are taking
the farm to new heights.

Equally dedicated to the family
business are brother Etienne
Buys and his wife, Tracey.

JEAN-PIERRE UYS

Casey’s Ridge – Elgin vineyards

In 2005 Vrede en Lust spread its wings by purchasing a 90 hectare farm,
Casey’s Ridge, in the southwestern part of Elgin. Situated only 12 km from
the cold waters of False Bay at Rooi-Els, and 14 km from Walker Bay, the
farm is just perfect for cool climate viticulture. Its picturesque setting at
a height of 320 metres above sea level, right next to the Kogelberg hydroelectric dam, makes Casey’s Ridge 6-8 degrees cooler than the parent farm
in Simondium. The large water body helps to moderate the climate and
ensure cooler daytime temperatures during the ripening period.
Plantings will constitute 60 hectares of high quality vines by the end of
2012. The first wine to be made from these vineyards was Vrede en Lust
Casey’s Ridge Pinot Grigio, one of the few single varietal wines of this
grape available in South Africa. Although the cool climate fruit supports
ageing, it is first and foremost a tangy white for early drinking.
The cool climate reds will complement the warmer climate reds from
Simondium. A variety of clones have been planted which should present
the winemaker with a clean canvas and a myriad flavour options, considering the variation of slopes and soil types. Already it is evident that
the vines promise a cooler climate spice profile for Shiraz and a different
floral profile for Viognier. Both a 100% Sauvignon blanc and a SémillonSauvignon blend will be released.
The two distinct soil types on the farm are Bokkeveldt shale, along the

ridge at the top and on the warmer slopes, and Table Mountain sandstone
with a significant quartz component, along the Kogelberg hydroelectric
dam and Palmiet River. The soils are deep and well drained.
Situated in the Palmiet River valley, Casey’s Ridge overlooks the natural splendour of the Steenbras and Rocklands dams. It is located in the
Kogelberg Biosphere, the first UNESCO proclaimed biosphere in Africa,
which is home to one of the world’s richest sites of plant diversity – about
1 600 different plant species. Environmentally conscious and ever aware
of the fragility of our ecosystems, Vrede en Lust aims to rehabilitate
areas of exceptional indigenous fynbos and fauna in support of the Cape
Biodiversity initiative.
Countless trees have been planted on both properties to fight global
warming and give back to the environment.
To further augment the portfolio of styles, a second property was purchased not far from Vrede en Lust, in Klapmuts. The Ricton vineyards,
situated 2,5 km from the parent farm, consist of 42 hectares of Cabernet
Sauvignon, Cinsaut, Mourvèdre, Pinotage, Shiraz and Chardonnay. These
produce entirely different flavour profiles again. Shiraz from Ricton, for
example, abounds in spiciness, whereas the Vrede en Lust Syrah has
undertones of violets. Taken in unison, these aromas are harmonised into
an elegant symphony of unpretentious clean fruit.

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73

RIAAN VERMEULEN

Cotage Fromage
Country Bistro and Deli
Whether you dine in front of a crackling log fire, or enjoy the wraparound terrace views on a perfect summerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s day, a highlight of any visit to Vrede & Lust is a
meal at Cotage Fromage Country Bistro & Deli. Situated in the landmark thatch
cottage at the entrance to Vrede en Lust, the design of the restaurant is in keeping
with the rustic, country feel of the original thatch and its historic roots.
There has been much speculation about the origins of the cottage, even that it
was originally built for the Reverend Pierre Simond by the Huguenots. Although
a modest house may once have been situated on the same spot, there is no conclusive historical evidence to prove this.
Now incorporating a large terrace, the Vineyard Terrace caters for up to 120
diners. The wind-protected veranda makes the most of the magnificent setting
and views. The all-weather layout allows for intimate evening functions and private areas suited to conferences or tour groups. Wedding parties also make use
of the 120sqm kitchen facilities at Cotage Fromage.
To complement the excellent Vrede en Lust wines, the restaurant serves
light, sophisticated and scrumptious cuisine. Healthy food is prepared from the
freshest ingredients, and meals increasingly feature an organic component. The
bakery on the premises and well-stocked deli offer local and specialty cheeses,
olives and cured meats. The cheese platter has been ranked among the top ten
in the country.

RIAAN VERMEULEN

ZARA-ZOO.com

Christine MEintjEs

ZARA-ZOO.com

GREG LUMLEY
GREG LUMLEY

ZARA-ZOO.com
ZARA-ZOO.com

Celebration

Fortune and fate have been kind and cruel to the fine-looking Vrede en Lust manor house. The historic homestead was ravaged by fire at the end of the 19th century and significantly restored by Norman Beroldt in the 1950s.
In keeping with the effervescent spirit that permeates the era of the Buys brothers, the new millennium saw the manor house
renovated to create modern living quarters and the historic cellar restored to its original appearance. It once again features a
low ring-wall along the front. Plaster was scraped off the inside walls to reveal the primitive mixture of clay, sand and straw
used by the builders of yesteryear. The modern glass windows were removed and replaced with windows in their original
locations while the slim air vents were re-opened.
Together these traditional farm buildings, coupled with the new vineyard terrace, are an immensely popular function venue
for high-end weddings and celebrations.

JEAN-PIERRE UYS

Wedding parties, executives or celebrities who want to enjoy exclusivity and privacy in the heart of the Cape winelands can
stroll, jog or cycle to explore the undulating vineyards.
For more than three centuries Vrede en Lust has been a very special place in a very special part of the world. But whereas
in the past it could only be enjoyed by a privileged few, today the farm and the homestead is a luxurious retreat for wine aficionados and discerning enthusiasts.

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77

Pictures: JEAN-PIERRE UYS

Th e Logo
The Huguenot origins of the farm are honored by the logo, which was adapted from the original
Huguenot Cross. Designer Anthony Lane took the Fleur-de-lis from the Buys family crest and softened the Huguenot cross by applying it to the points. The logo, a dove linked by a ribbon of gold to
multiple blessings as depicted by the points of the cross, represents peace and freedom of spirit. It is
a fitting symbol for a farm with a legendary history and a soaring future.